9th Annual General Meeting of the Water Sommelier Union

At the invitation of Tetra Pak GmbH & Co KG, mineral water experts met in Hochheim (Main) on October 25th and 26th, 2019 for their annual general meeting. The fact that our participants hail from a total of 12 different nations demonstrates the international makeup of the Association. Tetra Pak, founded in 1951, is the global leader in food processing and packaging solutions. With more than 24,000 employees worldwide, the company assumes a leadership role for industrial responsibility via their successful, sustainable business model. The motto “PROTECTS WHAT’S GOOD™” underscores their vision to provide safe food everywhere.

Tetra Pak, a valued Water Sommelier Union sustaining member for the past 2 years, showed off their filling technology for carton packaging at its training center in Hochheim (Main). In addition, members visited the production plant in Limburg. Since 1969, high-quality cardboard packaging material for liquid foods – about 5 billion packages per year – has been produced here.
A rare natural phenomenon revealed itself to our participants after a bus ride to Andernach (Rhine). The exhibition at the Geyser Centre led to the cold water geyser and some background information about volcanism in the Eifel. After navigating the Rhine to the nature reserve on the Peninsula Namedyer Werth, the visitors were finally able to see the phenomenon: the world’s largest cold water geyser shoots out every 2 hours with a fountain about 50 to 60 meters due to the high CO2 pressure. A most impressive nature spectacle! The water sommeliers, of course, immediately noticed the slightly salty content of the geyser water.

We would like to thank Tetra Pak for logistical assistance and for their generous financial contribution to our 2019 Annual Meeting! Special thanks are due to Managing Director Stefan Karl for hosting this event in Hochheim, to our water sommelier Timo Bausch for preparing the varied program and Mrs. Cornelia Mann for organising the popular side events!