Consumer Council Apologises after Water Company Slams Rating

Consumer Council rates the water as "natural drinking water"

Hong Kong's Consumer Council issued a rare apology on Thursday, saying it had incorrectly placed a mainland Chinese bottled water brand in the wrong category and re-evaulated it as a five-star product.

On Monday the consumer watchdog said Nongfu Spring's bottled water had bromate at the maximum level of European Union standards, as consuming too much of the chemical could result in discomfort and even affect people's nervous systems. 

Bromate is formed when ozone used to disinfect drinking water reacts with naturally occurring bromide in the source water.

Consumer watchdog issued rare apology

Nongfu was outraged, claiming the council's findings were "extremely unscientific and irresponsible" and demanded an apology.

Two days later, it got it.

The Consumer Council said after it received the bottled water company's legal letter and met with its representatives it immediately launched an in-depth study and follow-up.

"We apologise for the misunderstanding caused by the discrepancy in sample categorisation in this test," the council wrote.

"We understood that the product is not 'natural mineral water' nor 'purified drinking water'. It is 'natural drinking water'."

What does "natural drinking water" mean?

In any event, the council has re-rated Nongfu water and classified it in its own category of "natural drinking water", and that 3 micrograms of bromate are acceptable for that category, where the EU standard is a maximum of 10 micrograms.

"After the re-rating, the overall performance of the sample was adjusted from 4.5 stars to five," the council said.

Does this U-turn make consumers more confident about the Consumer Council? And Nongfu?