Giant Eagle pulls bottled water from spring near East Palestine ‘out of an abundance of caution’
Giant Eagle announced Tuesday, Feb. 21, that it plans to pull bottles of Giant Eagle brand spring water sourced from a facility near East Palestine, despite no evidence that the supply was affected by the Feb. 3 train derailment.
The decision, made “out of an abundance of caution,” will remove all gallon-size-or-greater versions of the product from shelves in Giant Eagle, Market District and GetGo stores until further notice.
The only Giant Eagle brand products from the Salineville facility, located approximately 25 miles southwest of East Palestine, are the varieties of spring water in gallon-size-or-greater packaging.
“Giant Eagle has been in daily contact with representatives from the facility and has learned that the water used in these products comes from a protected spring located at a higher elevation than East Palestine and is not near ground water sources directly impacted by the incident,” the Tuesday news release said.
A third-party lab has been regularly testing Salineville’s raw water sources and finished products and has not found any evidence that the water has been negatively impacted by the Feb. 3 incident, Giant Eagle said in the release.
The grocery store chain said it would continue testing and evaluate potential impacts to the spring source.
