Nestle Waters has been hit with a fine exceeding $610,000 (500,000 Swiss francs) by Swiss public prosecutors for misleading consumers by labeling Henniez bottled water as “natural mineral water” despite using activated carbon filters. The ruling, announced Wednesday, comes from the attorney general of Vaud canton, where Nestle’s headquarters and the Henniez water source are located.
Prosecutors contend that Nestle Waters gained an unfair economic advantage by failing to comply with legal labeling obligations between 2008 and 2022. The use of activated carbon filtration processes is generally prohibited for natural mineral waters, which are expected to maintain their original composition.
This Swiss case follows a broader scandal in France earlier this year concerning Nestle’s bottled water brands, including the prominent Perrier, and their use of unauthorized micro-filtration processes. Revelations by French media outlets, Le Monde and Radio France, exposed that several producers, including Nestle, had employed these banned treatments. Shortly after, the Swiss newspaper Le Temps reported similar practices at Nestle Waters’ Henniez factory in Switzerland.
The Vaud attorney general’s office revealed that the use of activated carbon filters at the Henniez plant was discovered during an inspection in 2020. While some treatments are permissible, an application for exemption by Nestle Waters was refused. The company was subsequently ordered to remove the filtration system by the end of 2022, a directive confirmed by a March 2023 inspection.
However, the consumer office filed a complaint, alleging that Nestle Waters had concealed the use of the carbon filter.
The imposed fine of 500,000 Swiss francs takes into account the specific circumstances of the case, including the fact that the filtered water posed no health risk to consumers and Nestle Waters’ full cooperation throughout the proceedings. Nestle Waters’ brands generated sales of 3.2 billion Swiss francs ($4 billion) last year.
A spokesperson for Nestle Waters confirmed that the filters did not comply with Swiss regulations for mineral waters and have since been removed under official supervision. “We accept the ruling and express our regret for this past situation,” the spokesperson stated, adding that Henniez mineral water “can, and always could be, drunk with complete confidence, and its unique mineral composition, as indicated on the label, has always been preserved.”
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