Nestlé Mineral Water Affair: "The Elysée Palace has been aware of it since 2022," denounces Senator Alexandre Ouizille

A scandal with political ramifications. While Nestlé's industrial practices are at the heart of a Senate report published this Monday, May 19, the rapporteur for this work, Socialist Senator for Oise Alexandre Ouizille, denounced on France Inter in the morning "the way the state handled things" and "covered up" the multinational's actions. "The Elysée has been aware since 2022, the Ministry of Industry since 2021, the report of the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs was not published; it was a ministerial decision."

The fraud in question? The massive use of prohibited treatments such as ultraviolet rays and activated carbon to treat Nestlé water (Perrier, Hépar, Contrex, etc.) for years. However, European law stipulates that natural mineral water cannot be subject to any disinfection or treatment likely to modify its characteristics. In the case of Nestlé, which has the "mineral water" label, these treatments represent a fraud of three billion euros over fifteen years, according to an investigation report by the fraud prevention services revealed by Mediapart .

And if this water is treated despite everything, "it's not for nothing, it's because there's a problem with the raw water, the water at the source," Alexandre Ouizille reminds on France Inter. This water is " contaminated with bacteria ," such as E. coli, responsible for sometimes serious foodborne infections.

To date, "there is increased health control by the authorities, which ensures that there is no risk in what is marketed," Alexandre Ouizille explained to France Inter. But Nestlé is regularly asked to destroy batches, which are checked post-production, without anyone knowing what happens to the batches in question. "We don't have a clear answer," observes the socialist. Yet, according to the senator, they represented "two million bottles a few years ago, hundreds of thousands just a few months ago..."

Above all, Alexandre Ouizille denounces the government's involvement and its silence: "The State has entered into a transactional logic; [it] has not behaved as the standard-setter, the guarantor of the general interest that it should be. The State entered into a discussion with Nestlé; it has concealed this fraud from the general public."

For this Senate report, "we requested the hearing of Alexis Kohler [the former secretary general of the presidency, editor's note], who refused to appear before us," Alexandre Ouizille also specifies, while Kohler "met on multiple occasions" with the president of Nestle Waters, Luriel Lienau. Questioned by the press in February, Emmanuel Macron denied being aware of the case.

After six months of work and more than 70 sometimes tense hearings with former ministers, major industrialists, and experts, the commission of inquiry published its report on Nestlé's practices on Monday. At the heart of the parliamentarians' questions were not only the methods of the company, which operates in 185 countries, but also the responsibilities of public authorities in monitoring them, and more generally, the management of economic, health, and environmental risks.

Today, Perrier is awaiting a decision on the renewal of its license to exploit the spring as "natural mineral water." While state-appointed hydrogeologists have issued an unfavorable opinion, the Gard prefecture must make a decision by August 7 and, in the meantime, has given the group two months to remove its microfiltration system, considering that it "modifies the microbiome of the water produced, in contradiction with current regulations."

Legal proceedings are underway in Paris following complaints from consumer protection associations for "deception" targeting Nestlé Waters and Sources Alma.