MONTREAL — Upon testing several popular brands of bottled water, researchers at C-crest Laboratories in Montreal were surprised to find high counts of heterotrophic bacteria, the Times Colonist reported.
The researchers declined to reveal which brands were tested, but said they found that bottled water contains significantly more bacteria than tap water, the article stated.
According to the report, more than 70 percent of the bottled water tested did not meet standards set by the United States Phamacopeia (USP), which states that no more than 500 colony forming units (cfu) of bacteria per milliliter should be present in drinking water.
“Bottled water is not expected to be free from microorganisms but the (colony forming unit count) observed in this study is surprisingly very high,” said Sonish Azam, a researcher in the study. “Therefore, it is strongly recommended to establish a limit for the heterotrophic bacteria count as well as to identify the nature of microorganisms present in the bottled water.”
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