If you stop and think about it, bottled water (whether spring, distilled, etc.) is stored at room temperature and it is not pasteurized nor is it vacuum packed. Well, as far as I know it is not treated in such a manner, but please correct me if I am wrong on this.
Assuming my premise is correct, it is a great breeding ground for bacteria. Just how long can it sit around before it should be tossed? As I recall, there is no expiration date on these things. But, shouldn’t there be?
“They’re coming to take me away ha-ha, ho-ho, hee-hee, to the funny farm where life is beautiful all the time… :)” - Napoleon IV
Why would pure water be a great breeding ground for bacteria? There is no food (calories) in it for them, so they would either die or go dormant. To multiply they must have a food source.
BTW most of the bottled water I have seen does have an expiration date. According to a person I talked to on an 800 number that was on a bottle, it is the date when the seal of the bottle can start to degrade.
“You can be smart or pleasant. For years I was smart.
I recommend pleasant.”
Elwood P. Dowd
Bottled water is indeed a major breeding area for bacteria. Bottled water is already full of bacteria & you can get the water quality report from the water comp that makes the water.
I read a report on Big Sur bottled water being closed because of too high e coli. There is e coli of some amount in bottled water, there are other bacterias too. They breed, its a fact of life.
There is an overview of the regulations. You can follow the links to the rest of the site for more information. It does discuss the use of sterile water for use in mixing infant formula. Another site discussing Y2K readiness stated they were using an expiration date 2 years after the bottling date.
I found some canned water from 1942 under some stairs when I was a kid. I opened it into a glass and drank it. Aside from tasting flat, I had no problem with it, and being 34 years in the can didn’t seem to effect it.
As per Handys’ comment, I surmise it was distilled.
I had a plasitc bottle of bottled water lying around for a long while. Before I opened it, I noticed that the expiration date had passed. Expiration date for water, I asked myself and proceeded to drink some.
Well, the problem I had was that it had a severe plastic taste. I assume that some of the chemicals in the plastic bottle leached into the water, making it taste bad,