Coronavirus pandemic: Dasani bottled water finds no takers even amid widespread panic buying
One of the daily essentials that people from all over the US flocked to the supermarket to stock up amid the coronavirus outbreak was bottled water.
In one of their recommendations, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged people to obtain "extra necessary medications to have on hand in case there is an outbreak of COVID-19 in your community" and "have enough household items and groceries on hand so that you will be prepared to stay at home for a period of time."
As a result, bottled water disappeared from the stores within days of this announcement. However, there was one particular brand of water that no one seemed to want to touch — it was Dasani. At least that's what it seems like if you go by the pictures people are sharing on social media.
Dasani, launched in 1999, is a brand of bottled water manufactured by The Coca-Cola Company. It was launched to compete with PepsiCo's Aquafina.
It is basically filtered tap water with added sodium.
The product, however, has failed to make a mark in the US market, especially after reports emerged that a batch of Dasani water was contaminated with bromate, a suspected human carcinogen, in a concentration above the legal limit for sale in the UK just after a month of launching there in February 2004.
Although the FSA announced there was "no immediate risk to public health" from the contamination, Coca-Cola was forced to recall half a million bottles and eventually withdraw the Dasani brand from the British market.
"Glad to see folks are ditching Dasani, which has been shown to have a negative pH. Why does that matter? Acidity in your mouth contributes to the demineralization of teeth which can lead to cavities," one social media user wrote after pictures of crates of Dasani bottled water sitting on otherwise empty supermarket shelves in the US were posted on Twitter.
Another wrote, "No water here but Dasani. Even in a 'crisis' nobody drinking that trash ass water"
A third criticized Aquafina along with Dasani. "I find it hilarious that in the middle of all the panic shopping everyone is going crazy for water but nobody is touching Dasani or Auqafina (sic) we ALL know those waters suck ass" the user wrote.
"Is Dasani really that bad?! This is literally the only water left of the shelves," another user said.
However, not everyone seemed to be unhappy with drinking Dasani amid the health crisis. "I like Dasani, I don’t care if that shit taste like a sack of rocks and protein shake spit, I LIKE IT," one of them said.