Owner of Unlicensed Bottled Water Company Fined S$3,500 for Selling Tap Water to Customers

By
Rae Woo
-

We all know that water is one of the three essentials that humans cannot live without, and a necessity that we down without a thought whenever we’re thirsty

But have you ever wondered where our water comes from?

You may have heard of speculations from Facebook aunties and uncles that NEWater or spring water contains human and/or fish pee.

Still, you have enough reason to believe our water can’t possibly come from too horrible of a source, since this is Singapore after all.

Right?

Owner of Unlicensed Bottled Water Company Fined S$3,500 For Selling Tap Water to Customers

Unfortunately, there are really people out there selling you water from just anywhere.

On Wednesday (3 Mar), the owner of an unlicensed bottled water company was fined with a hefty sum of S$3,500 for failing to operate without a valid permit.

But that’s not just it. The cherry on top was that these illegal water bottling activities were done by filling up 19-litre bottles with tap water, which was procured from the toilets in the facility.

So essentially, customers may have been drinking something no different from toilet water. Ew.

Drinkstar Enterprise and its owner Richard Lim Lian Chye admitted to their acts, which were carried out at the firm’s premises at 55 Serangoon North Ave 4.

Investigated By The Singapore Food Agency (SFA)

Feedback regarding Drinkstar Enterprises’ products was given by a member of the public, prompting the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) to conduct inspections at the company on 18 Dec 2019.

Several empty 19-litre water bottles and dispensers were found at the site by officers.

Upon admitting his actions of filling up the bottles with tap water from the toilets, Lim said that they had been sold to customers in order to keep up with the firm’s outstanding orders.

The SFA instructed Lim to stop his water bottling activities immediately and made him recall all the water bottles he had sold.

In the end, 15 of such 19-litre water bottles were recalled and disposed of.

Food safety is of utmost importance, and it would be risky if illegal water bottling activities at unlicensed facilities carry on, emphasised the SFA.

If you’re ever planning to open a water bottling facility or a business, take note that it is required for one to have a license in Singapore and meet the SFA’s food safety standards and requirements before doing so.

SFA will also routinely inspect these places, so don’t anyhow play play.

Illegal water bottling can impose a fine of up to S$5,000 for individuals who take part in it. If convicted more than once, they can be fined up to S$10,000, serve a jail term of up to three months, or both.

Well, we’re not saying that you should believe random posts about the origins of bottled water, but just be wary of purchasing from unauthorised water brands, yeah?

Feature Image: yanik88 / Shutterstock.com

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Rae Woo
Email: [email protected]