Letter of the week: Watch out for fake water

Jul 18, 2009

TWO days ago, I asked for a bottle of water in a restaurant in Mbarara. I was given a 600ml bottle but as I started opening it, the bottle started leaking heavily from the bottom. This puzzled me and when I examined the bottom of the bottle, there was a v

TWO days ago, I asked for a bottle of water in a restaurant in Mbarara. I was given a 600ml bottle but as I started opening it, the bottle started leaking heavily from the bottom. This puzzled me and when I examined the bottom of the bottle, there was a visible scar which suggested the bottle had been tampered with and resealed.

When I complained to the manager, he checked the rest of the bottles to see if he could get a better one for me but shockingly, the whole box was full of fake water!

I know most of the readers are not surprised by this revelation since the Ugandan market is already full of so many fake products.

However, what is more worrying is when this practice involves foods and the national Bureau of Standards is not aware of it. There is urgent need to frequently check quality status of products at the end user points!

Can you imagine the health disaster we are likely to face with this continuous and unchecked explosion of fake foods like Royco and bottled water!

I am more worried when I think of the number of times I have taken bottled water, imagining that I am drinking safe mineral water! There are hundreds of people in Uganda who take it everyday!

Silver Mwesigwa
Epicentre/Mbarara

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