French authorities order Nestlé to remove its filtration system

On Wednesday, the Gard prefecture in the south of France served a formal notice to Nestlé Waters, a subsidiary of the Swiss food giant, to remove its microfiltration system from its Perrier mineral water at Vergèze within two months. Nestlé Waters says it will comply. + Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox At the same time, the Gard prefecture said it was continuing to "examine the application to renew the authorisation" granted to Nestlé to operate its Vergèze boreholes "for the production of Perrier natural mineral water", stressing that "the prefect's decision must be made before August 7". Natural mineral waters are governed by a 2009 European Union directive, which defines them in terms of their mineral content and "original purity", and also states that they may not be disinfected or treated in any way that could alter their "microbial content". Treatments may be authorised by prefectoral decree in France either to remove "unstable elements" (such as ...