The Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM), Economic and Technology Development Bureau (DSEDT), and Health Bureau (SSM) said in a joint statement yesterday that they had conducted a joint inspection of all eight water bottling plants in Macau, aiming to strengthen supervision of hygiene, disinfection, bottling safety and other factors at the plants.
Recently, 18.9-litre bottles of potable water from three local manufacturers have been found to exceed official bacteria standards within a month, affecting the local O’Sun, NK and PURITY brands.
The statement noted that all the plants have been required to enhance food safety management at all critical control points throughout the bottling and distribution chain to safeguard consumers’ health.
The joint inspection paid special attention to potential food safety risks in the botting process, including raw water storage equipment, potable water treatment procedures, cleaning of packaging containers and sterilisation methods, equipment maintenance and sanitation and hygienic practices during storage and transportation of the products.
The statement pointed out that all the plants have been instructed to rigorously implement internal management systems, covering food safety and hygiene quality, conducting systematic in-house water quality testing as well as third-party laboratory tests, aiming to ensure the safety and quality of every batch of bottled water.
The statement added that the sector must maintain detailed records of their disinfection procedures, testing verification, and sales distribution for regulatory review when required by the authorities.
The statement also said that the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) will continue collaborating with licensing and regulatory entities to intensify oversight, apart from supervising the local water bottling plants in the improvement of their food safety management, aiming to ensure that they operate in full legal compliance, and effectively safeguard consumers’ drinking water safety.
This handout photo provided by the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM), Economic and Technology Development Bureau (DSEDT), and Health Bureau (SSM) yesterday, shows officials from the three bureaus during their joint inspection of local bottled water plant U-Spring.
