The consumer protection organisation Foodwatch is to lodge a complaint on Wednesday 21 February against Nestlé Waters and the Sources Alma group for the prohibited disinfection treatments they used on several of their brands, including Vittel and Perrier, it announced on Wednesday 21 February. Ednews reports this news citing Le Figaro. 

"No one, not even a multinational like Nestlé, is above the law", said Ingrid Kragl, Foodwatch's Director of Information, quoted in a press release.

"This is why we are bringing a complaint today" against these two companies before the Paris Court of Justice for nine breaches of the European Mineral Water Directive, the Consumer Code and the Public Health Code, she explained.

At the end of January, the world's leading mineral water company Nestlé Waters revealed to the press that it had used banned ultraviolet and activated carbon filter treatments on some of its mineral waters (Perrier, Vittel, Hépar and Contrex) to maintain their "food safety". These practices are common in the case of tap water and pose no health risk, but are prohibited for natural mineral waters in the European Union. Nestlé Waters has also acknowledged that it informed the French authorities of these practices as early as 2021, when the authorities opened an investigation concluding that "nearly 30% of commercial designations", including some from the Sources Alma group, "undergo non-compliant treatment" in France, as reported by Le Monde and Radio France at the end of January.