China halts sales of tainted bottled water

Authorities in Beijing, China, have reportedly halted the sale of 31 brands of bottled water after the products failed safety tests, the government has said.

Random inspections found bacteria colonies in bottled water, the Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce stated on its website, citing a joint study with the capital's product quality bureau.

Tests on the Yiqun brand of bottled water found bacteria levels that were 9,000 times above safety standards, while those in Tianxing Special brand were 560 times higher, local media has said.

The tests were carried out on large barrels of water and did not include the smaller bottles of water normally bought in supermarkets.

People drinking the tainted water could experience bouts of diarrhoea, dizziness and vomiting.

The problems were partly due to poor quality controls at factories, such as the failure to clean and sterilise water pipes and replace and disinfect filters, the paper said.