does bottled water need to be kosher?

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Forum -> Household Management -> Kosher Kitchen

Does bottled water need to be kosher?

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amother

Thu, Jun 17 2010, 9:45 am

Does it need to have a hechsher?

amother

Thu, Jun 17 2010, 9:46 am

please

OOTBubby

Thu, Jun 17 2010, 9:50 am

Not according to all major US hashgochas (unflavored only).

DefyGravity

Thu, Jun 17 2010, 9:55 am

If you live in the US you're better off drinking tap water anyways because it's regulated.

But to answer your question, AFAIK, no, it doesn't need a hechsher on it. Although it's confusing since some do have a hechsher.

OOTBubby

Thu, Jun 17 2010, 10:01 am

DefyGravity wrote:

If you live in the US you're better off drinking tap water anyways because it's regulated.

I agree with that completely. I've tried very hard to convince various family members to stop buying it and to drink tap water.

DefyGravity

Thu, Jun 17 2010, 10:10 am

It's even worse to drink bottled water since most people don't recycle. You end up with tons of bottles that are going to sit in landfills forever. . . and people with bad teeth because they insist on drinking bottled water that oftentimes doesn't have flouride.

To make things worse, most of the time, bottled water doesn't even come from springs, it's tap water. So people are basically paying for the bottle.

Raisin

Thu, Jun 17 2010, 11:09 am

no it doesn't.

I am guilty of buying small bottles of water when I am out, but I reuse the bottle until it falls apart and then it goes into recycling.

life'sgreat

Thu, Jun 17 2010, 11:21 am

No it doesn't.

I'd love to drink tap water, but can't get used to the taste. Is there any filter that neutralizes the taste?

pina colada

Thu, Jun 17 2010, 11:27 am

although some might hold that no, I read that bottled water might have some wine in it as a preservative, so the Rav (I think Rabbi Blumenkranz A"H) had written that yes, it does need a hechsher.

Most bottled waters come with an OU.

Ruchel

Thu, Jun 17 2010, 11:34 am

If you hold by rabbi Blumenkrantz, good luck living in, huh, actually most parts of the world. My dh travelled in more than a dozen of countries and only saw a bottle with a hechsher a few years ago. It's impossible to find, almost.

the world's best mom

Thu, Jun 17 2010, 12:05 pm

I believe R' Dovid Feinstein holds that spring watet does not need a Hechsher, but distilled water does.

yummydd

Thu, Jun 17 2010, 12:07 pm

AFAIK the only time it would need a hechsher is for pesach.

mimimom

Thu, Jun 17 2010, 12:47 pm

I don't buy bottled water, but I won't drink untreated tap water, either. We have an Aquasana filter that get high ratings, and takes all of the bad taste and many pollutants out. Highly recommended. (Tap water has chlorine, trace pharmaceuticals, hormones from birth control meds, heavy metals, and maybe worse in it. In a lot of older homes/buildings the pipes still have lead soldering! I used to live near the Ashokan reservoir that supplies a lot of NYC's drinking water. NO WAY I'm drinking that without filtering!!)

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