The Bureau of Health in Kaohsiung City yesterday said a bottle of H2O brand bottled water, produced by well-known Uni-President Co, was contaminated with ethanol after a physician drank tasted it and reported the matter.
"After a chemical examination, we discovered the bottled water contained ethanol," said bureau director Han Ming-cheung (
He said ordinary ethanol does not pose a health danger, but people may experience a sore throat after drinking bad quality ethanol.
He said the department examined a large number of H2O water bottles taken from the Grand Hi Lai Hotel. The physician's water was from the hotel and was found to have been tampered with. Kaohsiung Police said yesterday they are continuing to investigate the incident.
The physician, Chien Shu-teh (簡樹德) told reporters he visited his friend at the five-star hotel in Kaohsiung, on Saturday evening. He opened a bottle of water from the minibar in his friend's room, drank only a mouthful, and immediately spat it out because it tasted funny.
Chien said his throat then became sore, and he immediately reported the matter to the hotel. About two hours later, he lost his voice, he later said.
Hotel spokeswoman Hsu Ji-lin (
She also said the hotel provided about 1,000 units of H2O bottled water a day. It was the first time a guest reported a problem with the water.
Han said the H2O bottled water was produced on April 20 for the hotel only, and not for the market, so the public would not likely be at risk of drinking contaminated water.
According to Chien, the water bottle's seal was not broken before he drank from it, so it was unlikely the bottle was tampered with by someone engaging in criminal activity. Police wondered how the water became laced with ethanol if it was not opened or tampered with. They suspect that the harmful substance was added before the bottle was sealed.
A manager at Uni-President Co, Hung Shih-ming (
The Georgia company's spokesman, Huang Wen-tien (黃文田) said yesterday the company has provided bottled water for Grand Hi Lai Hotel for several years, and has never before received a report that its water contained potentially poisonous ingredients. He also said he did not think an employee added the ethanol on purpose.
The case follows the contaminated energy-drink scandal last week, where Bullwild (
One person died and at least three others became sick after drinking the energy beverages.
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