In China, the Nongfu Spring Company tries to salvage its reputation after it was discovered that it did not adhere to the government’s guidelines in the production of drinking water. The secretary of the country’s National Health Association Drinking water committee said that the bottled water that the company produces contained higher than the allowable content of cadmium and arsenic. In its defense, the company stated that it followed the standards that were issued by the Zheijang government (a province in the east of China) back in 2005, yet the production criteria was upgraded on a nationwide scale in 2007. The company is yet to harmonize its standards with the rest of the manufacturers.
The problem however, is that the provincial government minimum content is about five times as much as the content allowed across the entire country. The company also continues to defend itself saying that “the accusations launched against (us) were masterminded by rival companies” and in fact they followed a criterion even better than that set by the government. Investigations further revealed that in the laying down of the Zheijang regulations, the only company that deals in the bottling of drinking water that participated was the Nongfu Company.
The attacks on the bottling company did not end there with its rivals; C’estbon Food and Beverage Company said that the allegations the Nongfu Company had presented to the public were entirely false. C’estbon had never participated in any actions that would destroy Nongfu’s image and that they could take Nongfu to court for reputation slander.
According to observers, the huge fall out between the bottling companies reveals a much deeper-seated issue, which is the standard of food safety in China. The problem, the analysts stated, was that the country had come up with too many regulations in the food safety sector.
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