Another famous drinking water brand was hit by a bromate. Recently, the well-known brand of bottled water in Guangdong, “XX Springs”, was detected by the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Industry and Commerce as containing excessive bromate. Prior to this, at the end of August this year, the "pure and pure" weak alkaline drinking water produced by the Harbin Pharmaceutical Sixth Plant and the natural desert water of the Jingyou Ordos in Inner Mongolia had also been detected by the State General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine. It is reported that bromate is a by-product of natural water sources such as mineral water or spring water after ozone disinfection. In the new national standard for mineral water implemented in October 2009, the substance was first included in the monitoring of drinking water quality and safety in China.

Some people in the industry pointed out that the current national standards for spring water lags behind and has a strict limit on the total number of colonies. This has led domestic drinking water companies to increase ozone disinfection for sterilization, which in turn increases the probability of bromate production of carcinogens. It is reported that a number of water companies in Guangdong have called for the abolition of this indicator and are in line with international standards. However, Guangdong did not adopt the local standards for drinking natural mineral water.

The problem of "bromate" is difficult to avoid

A few days ago, the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Industry and Commerce investigated the bottled drinking water sold in the city and discovered that the “natural spring water of mountain springs” in batches of “2011 Lottery Spring”, the bromate content and the total number of colonies exceeded the standard. On the afternoon of the 13th, the trademark holder of the brand held a press conference, officially apologized and said, “The bottled water problem has been completely recalled and destroyed, and has never flowed into the market.”

Why are so many well-known brands and large-scale drinking water companies experiencing the problem of "bromide"?

Experts in the industry pointed out that bromate is a by-product of natural water sources such as mineral water or spring water produced after ozone disinfection. In the international community, the maximum allowable concentration of bromate in drinking water specified by the World Health Organization and the US Environmental Protection Agency is within 0.01 mg/L. At present, China's mineral springs and spring water are all forced to implement this indicator, which has been consistent with the international community.

"The use of ozone disinfection of spring water and mineral water, inevitably contain a certain amount of bromate." Luo Tan, chairman of the Guangdong Bottled Water Association, told reporters yesterday that the groundwater contains a certain concentration of bromide, most of the mountain water plants and Mineral water plants use ozone-disinfected water treatment processes. Ozone will oxidize the bromide in the source water to bromate, which is a by-product of ozone disinfection of mountain spring water and mineral water. According to its introduction, ozone disinfection in the drinking water industry is currently the most effective method, and other new methods have not yet been widely used.

When the implementation of new national standards for mineral water in China in October 2009, the removal of bromate was once the number one problem in the domestic drinking water industry.

Water enterprises call for unified standards

A person in charge of a large-scale water company in Guangdong said that at present the mineral water national standard has eliminated the index limit of the total number of colonies, so the mineral water does not have to increase the amount of ozone to achieve the total number of colonies to sterilize, so that it is easier to avoid excessive bromate. However, since "spring water" has not yet had national standards for its own water species, the country has classified it as a list of natural clean water. There are restrictions on the "total number of colonies" according to the national standard for natural clean water, which has caused many companies to By increasing the total number of "colony colonies" and increasing the amount of ozone released, the probability of the occurrence of bromate as a carcinogen is increased. The source said that several water companies in Guangdong have appealed to the association to classify spring water as soon as possible, or to issue separate national standards for spring water, and to make new regulations on the “total number of colonies” indicator.

The reporter learned yesterday from the Guangdong Bottled Water Association that the association has drafted the local standard for food safety “Drinking Natural Spring Water” in Guangdong Province (Draft for Soliciting Opinions), and it was in the Department of Health of Guangdong Province from July 13 to August 20 this year. Official website publicity. However, it is worth noting that the reporter saw from the Consultation Draft that there are still strict regulations on the “total number of colonies”: ≤50 CFU/mL, while pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella, Shigella, Staphylococcus aureus, The regulations "cannot be checked out". The new standard also requires that the bromate indicator be tested once a month.

Luo Tan, president of the Bottled Water Association of Guangdong Province, told reporters that when the local standards for spring water in Guangdong were solicited for opinions, many water companies did call for the elimination of the “total number of colonies” indicator. The reason is that the national standard for mineral water has been cancelled and is in line with international standards. However, in the end, this opinion was not adopted, mainly because “consistency with the current national standards” is taken into account, that is, it is consistent with the current sanitary standards for bottled water. According to its disclosure, at present, the above-mentioned local standards for spring water have been reviewed by the Guangdong Provincial Food Safety Expert Committee, but it is unknown when it was officially promulgated and implemented.