There is currently no guarantee that bottled water in Cambodia is safe to drink, a Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy official said Tuesday.
In a few months, though, consumers can look for quality seals on the bottles to determine if the water is safe to drink.
“Starting Sept 1, a certificate will be compulsory,” Chan Borin, deputy director of the Department of Industrial Standards of Cambodia said Tuesday. “There is a lot of sub-standard pure water on the market…. I would tell people to be careful.”
Acting to make itself in accord with World Trade Organization requirements, the ministry is in the process of adopting about 50 national industrial standards.
“The WTO requires us to develop an institute of standards, to put the system in place so that our products can be ready for export,” Chan Borin said.
The water standard will be mandatory for companies to receive a license to distribute. Voluntary standards for salt, milled rice, vinegar, soy sauce, fish sauce and other locally made products are being formulated.
“We have a quality control scheme in place and factories can apply for a seal of quality,” Chan Borin said.
Companies will be charged fees for the seal.
About 60 Cambodian factories process water for sale in bottles. Chan Borin said some tests already conducted found dangerous levels of bacteria and other germs in what was promoted as pure water.
Major companies, such as Eurotech, have already passed voluntary quality control tests at the ministry, he said.
Factories properly using osmosis, ozone and UV treatments produce safe water, Chan Borin said, but some companies falsely claim to use the processes and in fact are bottling and capping foul water.
