Nassereddine says Tannourine file 'purely technical', samples contaminated

Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine said Wednesday that the Tannourine Mineral Water company has been suspended for “purely technical” reasons, lamenting the politicization of the file.

In remarks to LBCI television, Nassereddine clarified that the Ministry’s Epidemiological Surveillance team had received a complaint alleging the presence of contamination in Tannourine’s bottled water.

“The uproar on social networking websites over Tannourine’s water pushed the Ministry to act,” the minister added.

“Samples from the water present in the Lebanese market were sent to a laboratory hired by the Health Ministry and samples were taken from the factory, but not from the entire production line, and one of the taken samples confirmed the presence of contamination,” Nassereddine said.

“The Ministry was faced by two options: either the closure of the company and taking measures against it without broadening the investigation, or taking a precautionary measure by temporarily barring the company from bottling water ahead of an expanded investigation, after which new samples would be sent to other laboratories,” the minister explained.

“If the bacteria is not detected in the other samples, the measure against the company will be reversed and it will resume its work,” Nassereddine added, noting that “the problem will be resolved technically with the company should contamination be confirmed.”