Random survey of the microbial quality of bottled water in South Africa

Abstract

Due to the increased demand and consumption of bottled water in South Africa, there has been a growing concern about the microbiological quality of this product. Retail outlets sell local as well as imported bottled water to consumers. The microbiological quality of 10 different (8 local and 2 imported) bottled water products were tested over a period of three months on days 1, 30 and 90. Tests for the detection of heterotrophic plate count (HPC) bacteria, total and faecal coliform bacteria, spore-forming Clostridium perfringens, somatic and F-RNA coliphages were performed on the samples. In addition samples were analysed for three selected enteric viruses, caliciviruses, enteroviruses and rotaviruses using the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The results indicated that 8/10 of the bottled water samples analysed, met the requirements set by the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) for HPCs in bottled water of less than 100 counts per ml.

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