Do bottled drinks contain local water?

Hi folks, sorry to ask a boring question like this - I did do a search but could find an answer so here goes...

I know everyone says to only drink sealed bottled water (or treated water etc), but what about other bottled drinks such as fizzy drinks and juices? Are these 'safe' or are they made using local water? Does anyone know which ones to avoid?



Also, what about milk products, are they OK?

Cheers,
Rach

There were quite a few stories some months ago about Coke, etc containing agricultural runoff of various sorts but they have died down and it's hard to say what the real truth was.

in general, if you stick to name brands, you won't get sick (Bisleri , etc.). India has been using so many pesticides for so long, I doubt if you can really be pesticide free there, tho.

Bisleri OR any branded bottel drinks,beware of getting fack one at tourist spots. They just fill local tap water,in name of Branded bottel..

With branded bottled drinks,i think its safe only,unless one you are calorie conscious person!!!

good milk is one of the few things I always miss when I am in India. There is a lot of adulteration, water is mixed to increase the volume and there were even cases where whitewash was added to cover the high dilution.
The best fresh milk I found in hill stations like Kodaikanal.
Nestle (and some other companies) offer tetrapacked long life milk, but I don't like the taste. Goodlife milk is offered in bags, taste is slightly better.
Cheese is available but most of it is hardly comparable with what westerners would call cheese, imported stuff is available in big cities, tourist places like Goa and agglomerations of foreigners like Auroville (real good cheese).
Don't get misguided by the attached pic - the statement is slightly exaggerated...

But Yatri, always good to know the REAL price -- no bargaining if 100gm costs Rs 8!

I remember when a bar of Sunlite (laundry) soap was marked 6 annas, and the shopkeeper who tried to get 4 rupees from me... back in the day when there were 12 rupess to a dollar!

6 annas ? I know annas existed moons ago but in the recent past too ?

Ancient history?

In 1989, shopkeepers still occasionally quoted prices in annas, and at that time, the anna price was still printed on the wrapper of Sunlite soap.

Maybe that's a bigger chunk of YOUR life than it is of mine...

I feel ya, WW!
India always makes me feel young

But to answer your question Rach,

Most of the soft drinks and other manufactures go through great lengths to purify their water before they use it. I was quite surprised when I took a tour of a small soft drink manufacturing plant and the extent that they went through to purify the water and bring it up to India's Mineral Water Standards. It was quite impressive starting with importing water from a cleaner source and running it through massive filtration systems.

Water can be clarified as Mineral Water if it is purified enough.

As with every business reputation is a major factor and if word got out (like with Coca Cola) you would know about it.

So in my opinion I really wouldn't let it concern you. Soft drinks and juices are very safe to drink. I also agree with Radz about the refilling part and that is often done by kids on the street and reselling them to unsuspecting tourists.

With water if the seal is broken ask for another one without a broken seal.


As far as milk I have also found that very safe and the only problem, as listed above, is that it sometimes comes in plastic bags and if you have no place to store it (like a pitcher or jug) it becomes quite a struggle to work with it. Just buy some and you will find out . I spent a good afternoon with a big bag of milk and chocolate chip cookies trying to use it up since I didn't have anything to store it in....ahhhh..a good day that was.

Mike

thanks to everyone for replying to my inane question