No E.Coli Cases Reported From Recalled Water, Bottling Company Says

By Justin Heinze:

The Pennsylvania bottled water company that issued a recall last week due to an E. coli scare says no injuries or illnesses have been reported as of Monday.

Niagara Bottling said it does not have numbers on how many bottles have been returned.

The recall issued on water produced at the Hamburg and Allentown facilities between June 10 and June 18 was “voluntary,” the spokesperson stressed. “We have not received any complaints of injury or illness of any kind,” Niagara said in a statement.

Stores that sell the affected products include Wegmans, ShopRite, 7-Eleven, and Acme.

Niagara does not know how many bottles produced while E. coli was present could still be on the shelves, if any, the spokesperson said.

The operator at one of Niagara’s contracted springs did not notify the company that there was evidence of E. Coli for a week, according to the statement released by Niagara.

It is unclear why Niagara was not immediately notified.

“As the spring source did not notify us in a timely manner, we have discontinued the use of this source,’’ Niagara said.

The recall was voluntary because the company confirmed that no E. coli bacteria was in any products that were packaged and delivered to their bottling facility.

“Niagara Bottling performs extensive testing on both incoming spring water as well as finished products,” the statement said. “Once we were informed of the potential presence of E. coli at the spring source, we immediately shut down our operations, disinfected our bottling lines and initiated a voluntary recall in an abundance of caution and in the interests of consumer safety.”

To determine if your water is affected, look at the code on the bottle. Only codes that begin with the letters A or F are affected.

“The first digit after the letter indicates the number of the production line. The next two numbers indicate the day, then the month in letters, the year, and then the time, based on a 24-hour clock,” the notice said.

For example, A610JUN15 2000 means the water was produced at Allentown on line 6, and manufactured on June 10, 2015 at 8 p.m. Products made between 3 a.m. June 10 and 8 p.m. June 18 should not be consumed, the notice said.