The Perrier brand is iconic

Nanterre (France) (AFP) - A French court on Tuesday said Perrier can keep selling its famed sparkling beverage as “natural mineral water”, rejecting a case brought by a consumer rights group that said the label was misleading and urged the suspension of sales.

UFC-Que Choisir, which lodged its request with a court in Nanterre near Paris, had argued that the company’s microfiltration process meant Perrier could no longer claim the “natural mineral water” designation.

“The existence of a health risk to consumers linked to Perrier waters labelled ‘natural mineral waters’ has not been established,” said the Nanterre court on Tuesday.

Marie-Amandine Stevenin, the head of the consumer rights group, said they were “angry” at the ruling.

“We believe that this decision does not live up to the issues we were denouncing, namely misleading commercial practices.”

The association was ordered to pay 5,000 euros ($5,790) to the Nestle Waters group.

For its part, Nestle Waters welcomed the ruling, saying it confirmed that “the food safety of Source Perrier natural mineral waters has always been guaranteed”.

In early 2024, media reported that Nestle Waters, which also owns the Vittel and Contrex brands, had used banned processes to improve its quality, including ultraviolet treatment and activated carbon filters.

Such treatment is contrary to French and European law that states natural mineral water cannot undergo any processes that change its original state.

UFC had argued that the alteration of the water carried health risks.

Perrier is obtained from a spring in southern France.

Contamination by bacteria from fecal matter has been found on several occasions in the wells supplying Perrier, especially after heavy rainfall.

Nestle Waters has argued that such incidents have been rare, and that it was no longer using the affected wells.

The Swiss conglomerate had already been under pressure over Perrier and its other brands as EU regulations strictly limit what treatments are allowed for any product marketed as natural mineral water.

In 2024, Nestle Waters admitted using banned filters and ultra-violet treatment on mineral waters.

The company paid a two-million-euro ($2.2-million) fine to avoid legal action over the use of illegal water sources and filtering.

In June of this year, Nestle Waters was fined more than $610,000 in Switzerland for having used activated carbon filters on its Henniez bottled mineral water.