Karnataka’s Food Safety and Drug Administration has issued notices to 24 packaged drinking water units and ordered the closure of two plants after inspecting 45 facilities for hygiene, licensing and labelling violations across the state.
The inspections were conducted on Thursday as part of a wider drive to improve food hygiene and storage standards, according to the FSDA. The department said its teams found unhygienic conditions, missing medical certificates for staff, absent Food Safety and Standards Authority of India licences, labelling defects and missing pest-control certificates.
Two units were also found producing misbranded packaged water. The FSDA said it seized misbranded water from units in Mysuru and Davangere, while a plant in Mulbagal in Kolar district was ordered to shut because of unhygienic conditions. The department did not provide details in the statement on the names of the two closed units or the quantity of water seized.
The inspections were carried out under the directives of Karnataka Health and Family Welfare Minister U T Khader. “There will be no compromise on the quality of drinking water. Legal action will be taken against those found guilty. These inspections will continue regularly,” Khader said in a social media post, according to the report.
The department said units inspected included Bisleri International, Aquafina, SLV Aqua King, Goodew, Nireta, Neeram, FM Aqua, SM Aqua, Siya Packaged Drinking Water, Rishabhadri Minerals, Shivalingeshwara Minerals, Deeksha Industries, Akashwin Foods, Mountain Aqua, Shivaganga Foods and Naturey Beverages. The inspection list also included Naturey Beverages, among other packaged water producers named by the FSDA.
The enforcement action places licensing, production hygiene and traceability at the centre of packaged drinking water regulation. For consumers, the FSDA advised checking the FSSAI licence number, ISI mark, manufacturing date and whether the bottle or container seal is intact before purchase. It also said complaints could be filed by scanning the QR code provided by the department.
The action follows a separate FSDA inspection drive involving 186 sweet-making units two weeks earlier. The department issued notices to 25 establishments over unhygienic and poor storage conditions ahead of Dussehra and Diwali, and imposed a penalty of Rs 7,000 on two business operators. In recent months, the department has also conducted raids at ice-cream manufacturing facilities, five-star hotels, prominent restaurants, fast-food centres and private clubs in Karnataka.
The FSDA said inspections of packaged drinking water units would continue regularly. Legal action against units found violating food-safety requirements will depend on the findings recorded by the department.
