Recall for mineral water due to germ contamination

Roxane GmbH from Jessen (Saxony-Anhalt) is recalling mineral water of the "Gut & Günstig" and "Naturalis" brands in the Medium, Classic and Still varieties in various packaging sizes due to germ contamination. The goods are mainly available at Edeka, Marktkauf and Netto Marken-Discount throughout Germany, with the exception of Saarland. The portal lebensmittelwarnung.de and the consumer organization Foodwatch provided information on Wednesday. The company was initially unavailable for comment.

Company detects bacterial contamination

"Bacterial contamination was detected during routine checks. This can lead to health problems. For reasons of preventive consumer protection, we therefore strongly advise against consuming the product," the Roxane recall notice stated. The company and the retailers concerned reacted immediately and withdrew the product from sale immediately.

Foodwatch drew parallels with a mineral water scandal in France. "Because Roxane belongs to the Alma Group - the same company that is currently on trial in France for illegally filtering contaminated mineral water," it said. Foodwatch called on Roxane and the responsible German food authorities to make all information on the recall public. In particular, all measured values from Roxane fountains in Germany should be published.

Since mineral water varieties with very different best-before dates are affected by the recall, Foodwatch suspected that the problem of contamination may have existed for some time.

The federal states or the Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety publish public notifications and information on lebensmittelwarnung.de.