Evian: Nitrite levels do not exceed standards

Edited and translated by People's Daily Online

Regarding the "nitrite in mineral water exceeding the provided standard" incident, Evian made an official reply on July 5, saying its mineral water does not have the "nitrite exceeding the provided standard" issue. The company said the product involved was not imported through its authorized importers, and therefore, it cannot obtain the retention sample of the product to identity the product. Currently, the origin of the product is still being investigated.

Put on the "black list" six times in six years

At the end of June, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of China (GAQSIQ) issued a piece of information, showing that the 2.376 tons of natural drinking water imported by the Beijing Great Nature Trade Company from France was returned due to "nitrite exceeding the standard".

It was not the first time that the GAQSIQ declared a quality problem of the product of the Evian and the Evian has entered the "black list" six times in past six years. In November 2011, the Evian natural mineral water imported by the Beijing Sheng Shi Wei Jia Trade Company from France also had the same issue.

According to data, a small amount of nitrite of between 0.3 and 0.5 gram will cause the toxic reaction and even death.

Regarding the incident, the general manager of the Greater China Region of the Evian Food Trade (Shanghai) Company Dai Ning said that the company has communicated with relevant quality supervision, inspection and quarantine departments and obtained the batch number of the involved product.

According to the batch number, the headquarters of the Evian in France immediately found the retention sample of the relevant product and tested the sample in a third-party laboratory recognized by the Ministry of Health of France. "The result of the test shows that the nitrite content of the product is less than 0.02 milligram per liter, far less than the nitrite content standard of 0.1 milligram per liter set by China."

According to sources, Evian Company has required an authoritative Chinese inspection organization of the China Academy of Inspection and Quarantine to randomly pick samples from Evian products of nine batches in the market of Beijing to re-test their nitrite contents. According to the re-test report issued by Evian on July 5, all these Evian products are qualified.