More than 130 batches of mineral water, investigated by the CPS in the period from 2017 to 2019, found violations of mandatory requirements, according to the organization's website.

Experts checked more than 300 thousand batches with a total weight of more than 245 thousand tons.

"A total of 135 batches of mineral water were identified, with a total weight of more than 32 tons, with violations of mandatory requirements, including labeling requirements for packaging," the report indicates.

The ministry proposed to label water with “means of identification”, stressing that such a measure would exclude the entry of illegally manufactured products to the consumer market. The label also helps to protect manufacturers from the reputational costs associated with fakes, and the buyer will be able to personally verify the quality of the water, the department stressed.

“A consumer using a mobile application will be able to check whether a particular bottle of water is legally produced,” Rospotrebnadzor notes.

New marking tools

Earlier, the head of the corporation "Rostec" Sergei Chemezov said that more than a quarter of the products on the Russian market of drinking water is counterfeit.

“Oddly enough, the most forged products are water, drinking water we buy, we drink. The percentage of falsification ranges from 25 to 30%, which is on average in Russia, and in some regions up to 80%, ”he said.

In this regard, Chemezov said the need to "start labeling of these products."

Now in Russia only certain types of goods are marked. On July 15, an experiment in dairy products started in Russia. According to the decree published on the website of the Russian government, it will last until February 29, 2020. During this period, the mechanisms for labeling dairy products will be developed in order to “counter its illegal import, production and trafficking.”

The rest of the goods that should begin to participate in the labeling in the near future - non-food. They include cigarettes, shoes, fur coats, perfumes, eau de toilette and some light industry products, Interfax reports. In addition, from July 1, labeling of all pharmaceutical products will become mandatory.

Earlier, Rospotrebnadzor has already launched an initiative to extend the existing labeling system to mineral water. To this end, the department sent a proposal to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

“In order for us to apply this system for the production of mineral water, we just proposed to the Ministry of Industry and Trade to distribute this system (labeling),” RIA Novosti reports the words of the Deputy Head of Rospotrebnadzor, Mikhail Orlov.

The fact that such a decision is already in preparation, said in July, the speaker of the Federation Council, Valentina Matvienko.

“A decision is being prepared on water labeling so that it strictly corresponds to the source from which, as follows from the label, it was produced,” RIA Novosti reports citing Matvienko.

According to her, at the moment on the shelves of shops there is often water of “unknown origin and quality”. The senator reported that “80% of the water sold in domestic stores does not advise its names,” and called for stricter efforts to deal with counterfeit water producers.

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As the head of the main control and testing center for drinking water, Yuriy Gonchar, told a conversation with RT, now for the production of water it is enough to have a “declaration of conformity” to the state standard. At the same time, the standard itself is written in such a way that purified tap water is suitable for it.

“When we take 10 samples from the most famous brand of mineral drinking medicinal water, by chemical composition we determine that they all look like GOST Soviet times. At the same time, the radiological composition shows that only five of them were recruited from the well. How to protect Rospotrebnadzor from spill of such water? The manufacturer finds a well in the best case, takes the water supply in the worst, cleans a little bit and the water will be of the highest quality. The technical conditions are being developed, and after the purification of chlorine and iron it does not matter whether the water is labeled or not, ”the expert believes.

At the same time, new technologies will help to cope with the problem of counterfeit water, said Yulia Syaglova, a lecturer in the Department of Marketing at the Institute of Industry Management of the RANEPA.

“Today there are labeling tools that are based on blockchain technology. What does it mean? These are systems that make it possible to give the whole process an element of “traceability”. That is, there is information about where the goods were produced, from which well the water was poured, how it was transported - all stages up to the moment when the water hit the store counter. The buyer will receive a guarantee that he buys water of exactly the quality that is stated on the label, ”she commented on the situation to RT.