A watery question

[Col ISIHAC.]

This has been occupying the minds of some of our top people here. It's Friday afternoon, after all; what else is there to do?

Spring water. Evian and the like; trickling gently down through volvanic rock, or bubbling up through springs here & there. Lovely stuff, sold by the gallon to the discerning punter. There's even a restaurant in London that has a water list, to complement the wine list. I kid you not! As natural as nature intended, collecting minerals and stuff on its journey; entrepreneurs decided to collect and bottle it, then selling it as the natural, unsullied alternative to tap water.


Given that this stuff has been percolating away, quite naturally, for thousands of years; and in its natural state was good enough for our ancestors - who would most certainly bottled the stuff, if they only knew what a bottling plant was - why the hell do these bottles of spring water have a best before date on them, when the contents is already very, very, very old?


Why IS that?

[J Esaj PRA]

The answer is probably related to food labelling laws more than anything else.

However, the longer you store water in a container, the more likely it is to leach labile material from the container's surfaces. Such material could reach toxic levels if given sufficient time. In addition, if the bottled water is as 'natural' as claimed, it'll contain a significant amount of biological material, as well as the nutrients required for the born-live-die cycle to repeat a few times.

In the world of analytical science, the problems associated with sample storage are well known and some extreme measures are taken to address them. Unfortunately, these measures usually render the container's contents unsuitable for human consumption.



(My apologies for the lack of humour in this post. I could embellish it with tales of terrorising the residents of Hampshire with a blow torch if you like?)

[frankiegth]

Sour cream has a best before date on it.

For crying out loud it's SOUR cream, it's already "gone off" ;D

[Col ISIHAC.]

J said:

(My apologies for the lack of humour in this post. I could embellish it with tales of terrorising the residents of Hampshire with a blow torch if you like?)

Ooh. Yes please

Thanks for the "Here comes the scientific bit!" For what it's worth, we did find a very old bottle at work, the contents of which had gone a sort of shiny green!

And Frankie:
"Sour cream has a best before date on it.

For crying out loud it's SOUR cream, it's already "gone off"

Another mystery that may never be solved, eh?

[frankiegth]

Life is full of little mysteries and I'm sure we can all think of some, like:

Why is there always a knife, fork or spoon left in the washing up bowl when you empty it? (I'm an impoverished midlander and can't afford a dishwasher ;D)

My favorite mystery of all time though is:

What DO seedless grapes grow from?

Anyway must go now, I've got to go and watch my beloved Hucknall get stuffed at Northwich

[ojiveojive]

Cuttings.

[ambersalamander]

When water is trickling through underground caverns it isn't exposed to light. Therefore algae cannot grow on it (hence the shiny green bottle you found).

Trust me, once it's been bottled it can go pretty stale. Tastes kind of nasty after a while