Researchers alarmed at bacteria in Canadian bottled water

[Ed Barrow]

Source: Canwest News Service

Canadian researchers say they've discovered some bottled water in Canada contains more bacteria than what comes out of the tap — although they won't reveal which brands are the culprits.

Researchers from C-crest Laboratories in Montreal bought and tested several popular brands of bottled water, and found many of them had heterotrophic bacteria counts that were "surprisingly high."

More than 70 per cent of popular brands they tested did not meet the standards set out by the United States Pharmacopeia, a non-governmental agency that sets safety standards for medications and health-care products.

"Heterotrophic bacteria counts in some of the bottles were found to be in revolting figures of (100) times more than the permitted limit," said Sonish Azam, a researcher on the study, in a news release.



Read more: http://www.canada.com/technology/Researchers+alarmed+bacteria+bottled+water/3069562/story.html