The Importance of Ensuring Bottled Water Quality
Creekside Springs goes the extra mile to ensure the purity of our products. Through its manufacturing practices and procedures, the quality is built-in:
- Spring Source Protection: Our protected underground spring water sources are inspected, tested and certified by the state of origin.
- State-of-the-art filtration equipment and processes
- Use of both Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and a Quality Management System: GMP's are requirements that affect all aspects of plant operations. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has outlined procedures to be followed in maintaining a sanitary plant and product. Strict adherence to GMP's is a federal mandate for bottled water producers and plays an integral role in ensuring a quality product.
Our HyperPure (purified water) is filtered via a six-step process:
1. Micro Filtration - Utilized primarily to remove organic particles from water utilizing membrane filters. Creekside Springs utilizes micro filtration at various areas of its operations, reducing particulates to less than 0.20 microns.
2. Media Filtration - Dual-media filters remove suspended solids to as low as 20 microns in size, but no dissolved solids. Utilized primarily to remove iron and magnesium from water, Creekside Springs utilizes a two stage media filtration assembly of manganese green sand and anthracite coal.
3. Ultraviolet Light - Utilized as a means of disinfection of water. All living organisms contain deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). The DNA provides the mechanism for all functions need to sustain life. The UV light penetrates the outer cell membranes of microorganisms, passes through the cell body, reaches the DNA, and permanently alters the genetic material thereby destroying the organism in a non-chemical manner. Creekside Springs utilizes UV lights in both its storage and production processes.
4. Activated Carbon - Activated carbon is a very mature technology that is designed to help remove taste and odor from water through adsorption of the compounds that cause problems. Activated carbon absorbs low molecular weight organics and reduces chlorine or other halogens from water, but does not remove any salts.
5. Reverse Osmosis - Reverse osmosis, also known as hyper filtration, is the finest filtration known. This process will allow the removal of particles as small as ions from a solution. Reverse osmosis is used to purify water and remove salts and other impurities in order to improve the color, taste or properties of water. Reverse osmosis is used to produce water that meets the most demanding specifications that are currently in place. Creekside may further process water via distillation prior to ozonation.
6. Ozonation - Ozone (O3) is one of the strongest oxidizing agents that is readily available. It is used to reduce color, eliminate organic waste, reduce odor and reduce total organic carbon in water. Ozone will oxidize all bacteria, endotoxins, mold and yeast spores, organic material and viruses. Primarily used to control bacteria, if a bottle or cap was contaminated, the ozonated water still has the capability to inactivate the bacteria after filling the bottle, preventing bacteria growth.
Hyper Pure® is a Registered Trade Mark of Creekside Springs, LLC.
Creekside Springs has earned the Safe Quality Food (SQF) Code 2000 certification. The SQF program is a global food safety and quality certification program and management system designed to provide independent certification that a supplier’s food safety and quality management system complies with international and domestic food safety regulations. With the program, suppliers can assure their customers that a food product has been produced, processed, prepared and handled according to the highest possible standards at all levels of the supply chain.
Both Creekside manufacturing plants (in Salineville, Ohio and Ambridge, Pa.) received SQF Level II certification.
“We are very proud to be a SQF-certified bottled water manufacturer,” said Jim Sas, managing partner and CEO. “The certification process took about a year, and our team worked very hard to make this happen. Achieving SQF certification fits our organization’s commitment to produce quality products and assure customer and consumer confidence.”
Quality is the premier focus at Creekside Springs and has helped the firm maintain growth as its customers recognize its value.
About Creekside Springs: Creekside Springs, LLC (Creekside) is a full line supplier of bottled water for private label, contract package (co-packing) and corporate brand agreements. The Company bottles spring, distilled, purified and enhanced products in serving sizes ranging from single serve 12oz. bottles to 5 gallon returnable units.
