Water Quality Evaluation of PET Bottled Water by Mineral Balance in the Northeast Asian Region: A Case Study of South Korea

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Yonago acta medica

Yonago Acta Med.

Sep

115

122

LR: 20151107; JID: 0414002; OID: NLM: PMC4626357; OTO: NOTNLM; 2015/06/26 [received]; 2015/07/27 [accepted]; 2015/10/14 [epublish]; ppublish

Japan

0513-5710; 0513-5710

PMID: 26538797

eng

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26538797

BACKGROUND: The past few years have seen a demand for drinking water in contemporary society with a focus on safety and taste. Mineral water is now marketed as a popular commercial product and, partly due to health concerns, the production. METHODS: For the study, a comparison was carried out of water samples from 9 types of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottled water sold in South Korea as well as from tap water in the cities of Seoul and Chuncheon. These were compared with samples of Japanese PET bottled water in order to determine shared commonalities and identify individual characteristics. To evaluate water quality objectively, we quantified the elements contained in the water samples. Samples were assessed not with the usual sensory evaluation but with the evaluation approach advocated by Hashimoto et al. which employs the Water Index of Taste and the Water Index of Health. The levels of water quality obtained were compared with the "Prerequisites for Tasty Water" and the "Standards for Tasty Water" devised for city water. RESULTS: The PET Bottled water varieties analyzed in this study-Seoksu, Icis, Bong Pyong, Soon Soo 100, Dong Won Saem Mul, GI JANG SOO and DIAMOND-showed the Water Index of Taste >/= 2.0 and the Water Index of Health >/= 5.2, which we classified as tasty/healthy water. SamDaSoo and NamiNeral can be classified as tasty water due to their values of the Water Index of Taste >/= 2.0 and the Water Index of Health 5.2. CONCLUSION: The South Korean PET bottled water studied here fulfills the "Water Index of Taste," "Water Index of Health," "Standard for Tasty Water" and "Prerequisites for Tasty Water" that Japanese people value for city water. We can conclude that bottled water which meets water quality requirements will be considered good-tasting by a majority of people.

Houri,D., Koo,C.M.

Division of Medical Education, Department of Social Medicine, School of Medicine, Tottori University Faculty of Medicine, Yonago 683-8503, Japan.; daggerFaculty of Economics and International Trade, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 200-701, South Ko

20151014

PMC4626357

http://vp9py7xf3h.search.serialssolutions.com/?charset=utf-8&pmid=26538797

2015