The Region - News from July 21, 1986

The manager of a Thrifty drug store in Altadena voluntarily removed nine 11-ounce bottles of Perrier mineral water from his shelves after a woman reported a burning sensation in her throat after drinking from a bottle purchased at the store, authorities said. The woman, Iris Mendez, 33, of Los Angeles was treated at a Pasadena hospital and released. Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies said water from the suspect bottle was being analyzed at the sheriff’s crime laboratory to determine if it was contaminated. Mendez told deputies that she returned one bottle of Perrier to the Altadena store before drinking it because of an unusual odor, and was given the second bottle in exchange. Ronald Davis, president of The Perrier Group, based in Greenwich, Conn., said tampering with bottles of the popular mineral water would be “as near to impossible as you can imagine” because they are sealed in France with a metal, pry-off bottle cap, rather than the twist caps commonly used here.