The scandal of the fake Perrier and Vittel mineral waters continues, with new revelations from Le Monde and the investigative cell of Radio France on the lobbying strategy of Nestlé Waters, conducted in France at the highest levels of government.
A series of documents demonstrate that at least since 2021 the head of government and the president of the Republic were aware of the illegal purification treatments of contaminated water, marketed as ‘spring water’ or ‘natural mineral water’. (1)
1) Nestlé Waters, 15 years of fraud and health risks on Perrier water
Food fraud perpetrated by Nestlé Waters on the fake mineral waters branded Perrier and Vittel has already been widely documented. (2) A water purification plant, the use of which in mineral waters is strictly prohibited by the Mineral Waters Directive 2009/54/EC, has been used for at least 15 years.
The fake mineral waters Perrier and Vittel were sold at a high price in every country in the world, allowing the Corporation to:
– make illicit profits which a report by the Directorate-General for Competition, Consumers and the Fight against Fraud (DGCCRF) has estimated at over €3 billion; (3)
– then define the legal case, despite the strong opposition of Foodwatch, with a plea bargain that cost less than 0,1% of the value of the illicit profits, in defiance of every EU rule. (4)
Infrared radiation, the carbon filters and the fine mesh microfilters used to purify the water are not able to guarantee food safety. To the point that the local health authorities – having verified the recurrence of contamination by fecal bacteria and viruses – have gone so far as to order the closure of the plant. (5)
2) Nestlé Waters, the secret agreement with the Elysée and the French government
The February 4 2025 Le Monde and Radio France have revealed the contents of the ‘documents that now allow us to reconstruct the chain of political responsibility for what appears to be a secret agreement between the French state and a multinational, which in turn was the source of a large-scale deception. Numerous meetings and discussions were thus organised at the highest levels of the State between Nestlé executives and the advisors and chiefs of staff of numerous political leaders: from
– Emmanuel Macron (Elysée) a
– Bruno Le Maire (Ministry of Economy), passing through
– François Braun (Health),
– Elisabeth Borne (Matignon) [Prime Minister, from 16 May 2022 to 9 January 2024, ed.], and
– Roland Lescure (Industry).
An email specifically attests to a meeting between representatives of the multinational and Alexis Kohler, secretary general of the Elysée ‘. (1) The latter appears to have met with company executives and to be among the recipients of emails explicitly mentioning the topic of contamination from drilling.
3) The ‘blackmail’
‘This operation of lobbying, of unsuspected proportions, which the Director General of Health Jérôme Salomon in 2023 defined as ‘blackmail’ – launched by Nestlé in August 2021, with the support of lobbyists Brunswick Group – ‘had the effect of convincing the State to circumvent the legislation relating to natural mineral waters, despite the health risk‘. (1)
The French government has thus granted the agri-food group the possibility of subjecting the water to prohibited treatments, on February 23, 2023. Although the Directorate-General for Health and its ministry had informed the collaborators of the Prime Minister and Emmanuel Macron that this request ‘it was not acceptable‘ for food safety reasons.
4) Threats of job cuts
The arguments used by Nestlé lobbyists, predictably, concern employment. An adviser to the Ministry of Industry reported in an email dated January 16, 2023 that Nestlé Waters Supply Est had highlighted the threat to 155 jobs. ‘And if microfiltration at 0,2 was not authorized, it would be necessary to add between 170 and 190 additional jobs lost‘.
The actual nature of these threats was confirmed with the definitive closure – by Nestlé, in that same period – of the Buitoni plant in Caudry (France). Thus laying off 140 employees, instead of making the plant safe, a year after the scandal of pizzas contaminated by E.coli that caused the death of two children (6,7).
5) What transparency?
The telematic correspondence examined by Le Monde and Radio France also reveals that Nestlé executives and lobbyists had access to confidential information and documents on the activities and investigative reports of the health authorities.
The meetings between the representatives of the Nestlé group with the secretary general of the Elysée Alexis Kohler and his advisers, moreover, were not registered as they should have been in the register of the High Authority for Transparency in Public Life. (8)
6) What justice?
Consumers, French, European and all over the world, have been subjected to a gigantic food fraud for at least 15 years, in addition to being exposed to serious public health risks.
The EFSA and ECDC’s One Health report on the inspection conducted at the Perrier factory by the Occitania Regional Health Agency, in November 2022, had in fact found:
– ‘microbiological deviations in all watersheds (coliforms, enterococci, Escherichia coli)’
– drillings that showed traces of chemical pollutants (pesticide metabolites and PFAS, etc.)
– a whole series of ‘prohibited treatments: double pipes and UV treatments and activated carbons hidden behind electrical cabinets and annexes’ and ‘microfiltration at 0,2 microns‘, well below the authorised threshold (0,8 microns).
The outcome of this affair will indicate which reforms are necessary to guarantee effective protection of European citizens which still appears, clearly, unrealistic.
#Égalité
Dario Dongo
Footnotes
(1) Scandale des eaux en bouteille: de l’Élysée à Matignon, révélations sur le lobbying de Nestlé au sommet de l’Etat. Radio France. 4.2.25 https://tinyurl.com/4ky79utz
(2) Dario Dongo. Nestlé, 15 years of fraud on French mineral water. FT (Food Times). July 21, 2024
(3) Pascale Pascariello. Eaux en bouteille scandal: Nestlé fraud has reached more than 3 billion in 15 years. Mediapart. 18.7.24 https://tinyurl.com/mr4dma77
(4) Dario Dongo, Marta Strinati. Mineral Water Fraud, Nestlé Waters Settles. FT (Food Times). September 12, 2024
(5) Dario Dongo. Perrier water, virus risk added to Nestlé fraud. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 29.12.24
(6) Contaminated pizzas: the Buitoni habit definitively stops in Caudry. Le Point. 30.3.23 https://tinyurl.com/4pjvwabt
(7) Marta Strinati. Pizza Fraîch’Up, Nestlé Buitoni plant was a ticking time bomb. FT (Food Times). October 27, 2022
(8) Nestlé Waters Management and Technology. High Authority for Transparency in Public Life https://tinyurl.com/5b9bkjsn
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
