SAN FRANCISCO — Koala Springs International on Tuesday ordered a nationwide recall of its blended mineral water and fruit drink products after Florida health officials discovered traces of benzene in randomly tested bottles.
It is the sixth recall of a bottled water product in the United States this year, the most notable being the Perrier recall in February.
"We are taking this action willingly and voluntarily to protect our product and its good name," said John Chatham, president of the Australia-based firm. Koala's U.S. operations are based in Fremont, Calif., and its products are bottled in Stockton and Sacramento, Calif., and in Columbus, Ohio, using locally purchased mineral water and fruit concentrate from Australia.
The company said tests of bottles distributed to the East Coast revealed benzene levels of 11 to 18 parts per billion. That is more than two to three times the 5 parts per billion maximum level permitted for drinking water by the federal Safe Drinking Water Act of 1986. The chemical can cause cancer.
West Coast beverages were not tested but were withdrawn from the market as a precaution, Chatham said.
Richard Hunter, Florida's assistant health officer for environmental health, said the level of benzene found in the Koala products "does not pose any significant health risks for the general public."
Still, Florida alerted retailers about the problem last Thursday and asked retailers in the state to remove the product from their shelves.
Retailers around the country began withdrawing Koala from their shelves Tuesday morning after independent laboratories retained by the company confirmed Florida's findings over the weekend.
"We sent an E-mail (electronic mail) message to all our stores as soon as we got word from the company," Safeway Stores spokesman Brian Dowling said.
Koala, which sells about $60 million of its sweetened carbonated beverage annually in the United States and $150 million worldwide, occupies a market niche somewhere between plain sparkling water and soda pop.
Bottled-water industry observers said that, even though Koala is not technically considered a bottled water because of its fruit and fructose content, the Koala scare--coming on the heels of the worldwide Perrier recall--could damage an industry that is built on an image of purity.
