Japan firm recalls US water (Crystal Geyser)

[Coventina]

Source: Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese company said Monday it would recall bottles of Crystal Geyser mineral water imported from the United States after consumers complained about a strange smell.

Otsuka Beverage Co Ltd. said in a statement that the recalled water posed no health threat, and the Crystal Geyser bottles may have absorbed smells during the summer when they were kept in storage for a long time.

Kyodo News agency, meanwhile, said an estimated 8 million bottles would be recalled.

Consumers complained the Crystal Geyser smelled like medicine or pesticide, prompting the company to recall the water bottles, Kyodo said. The firm's statement did not give details, including how many bottles it planned to recall. Company officials could not be reached for comment late Monday.



Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j-cFgBdTu3q8ScKzQwhqg1Ug7iLQD94GNN400

[zelta gaisma]

1. how long WAS it sitting there cause...ewwwwww

[nuncvendetta]

2. I've had problems with Crystal Geyser water on occasion too, but there's an explanation

This past summer I got some gallon jugs of Crystal Geyser that smelled/tasted like swamp water. Most foul, most foul. Then not too long thereafter it was announced that some of the "caps" on the bottles were mismatched, so that water jugs were capped with caps meant for carbonated beverages (meaning those caps are infused with an amino acid substance to preserve the carbonation). Well, when you combine amino acid caps with water, it causes a reaction that makes the water taste nasty, but is not actually unhealthy. Some California bottles of Crystal Geyser were recalled around that time, but I've had the same thing happen to me with Crystal Geyser on the East Coast (without any recall). In any case, it's not dangerous in the slightest, just highly unpleasant.

[Robbien]

3. This is not a fluke, there are people in the US talking about the smell of Crystal Water on the web

August 25, 2008

Recently purchased a few gallons of Crystal Geyser water from Big Lots. This stuff smells like penicillin!! I had a few friends smell it as well, and they all agree! This is not 'borderline' odor.

September 2, 2008
Yea, I had the same problem. Went back to Big Lots and got my money back.

http://elucius.blogspot.com/2008/08/crystal-geyser-water-and-penicillin.html

Crystal Geyser is bottled in Tennessee and distributed from California.

[pattmarty]

4. Fuck bottled water, never bought it, never drank it, and never will.

Right from the start (without any special knowledge) I thought it might have been nothing but "tap water". As it turns out from "studies" made on all of it, that is pretty much the case. AND, in some cases it is worse than "average" tap water as far as different contaminants. My wife and I have often joked about bottling our own water (we live in Arkansas by 3 lakes, and the local water is actually quite good) and calling it by some exotic name. Also, in my opinion nothing says elite as much as someone carrying around a plastic bottle of water. My Monday morning rant and 2 cents.

[soothsayer]

6. You're lucky you have good local water. Our tap water tastes awful,

and I'm suspicious of fluoride, so it's bottled for me.

[pattmarty]

7. You can get "bottled" water at most supermarkets nowadays.

I used to live in a suburb of Chicago and had a well and the water was horseshit. We used it only to bath, wash clothes (and it even stained clothes and the machine brown). We used to buy water at a local large supermarket (bring your own bottle, size optional) for our coffee and cooking. I can't remember now how much it was per gal, but it was cheap. You should try the same thing, save some of your mt gallon milk containers, wash them out and fill them at your local_________ store. A HELL of a lot CHEAPER than buying it "per bottle" and probably less contaminated than Coke or Nestle bottled.

[FarCenter]

5. Picture of Crystal Geyser plant in Olancha, CA

http://ludb.clui.org/ex/i/CA3255/

So its Colorado River water from the aqueduct?

[Grinchie]

9. Thanks for the picture, but not Colorado River water

Olancha is on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada located in the Owens Valley, which is the bed of the Owens River.

The Owens river was tapped by Mulholland due to the hundreds of rivers draining off the east slope of the Sierra. At the northern end of the system, primeval Mono Lake had it's water supply cut off by the California Department of Water and Power, and the level has been declining for the past 50 years.

Spring water? Highly unlikely, as a spring with that sort of volume would be very difficult to find. Well water? Not likely either, since the Owens Lake is an anciant Salt Lake that is more useful for mineral salts than for potable water.

Tap water? You bet, and most likely before it has been contaminated with the toxic byproduct of Aluminium refining, Fluoride.

[Grinchie]

8. This is from shoddy quality Control in the Bottle Manufacturing

In order to cut costs during the Oil Speculation boom, materials grew more and more expensive, leading to manufacturers most likely tinkering with the formulas for plastic in order to cut costs. Furthermore, please note the very limited information concerning Bisphenol A, which is present in just about all plastics.

You can notice the smell is plastic cups at Taco Bell on occassion. Try it. Get a cup fresh off the stack and smell the insides of it. It will smell like a shop that's been laying up fiberglass boat hulls.

People take plastic for granted as something inert and non-toxic. In my research, I find it to be not entirely true, and I am very careful about what plastics I put liquids it, and most certainly never cook in plastic or styrofoam.

As soon as this little secret in the fast food industry comes to light, you can see the processed food industry come to a screeching halt with all of their Oven ready dishes, loaded with GMO Ingrediants, bathed in plastics component chemicals leaching from the packaging into the food.

[Art_from_Ark]

10. Here's the announcement (in Japanese) from the company's web site

http://www.otsuka-bvrg.co.jp/news/news_081117.html

It affects 500 ml bottles with an expiration date of June 1, 2010 to August 19, 2010.
It is a voluntary recall, and the company is asking people having such bottles to return them to the company COD, and provide their name, address, and telephone number to get a refund. Since it's a lot of work to get essentially a dollar back, I'm assuming that most people with individual bottles are just going to shrug it off. So there is probably no way the company can estimate how many bottles will actually be recalled.