Emmanuel Macron denied “colluding” with Nestlé on Tuesday after reports that the Elysée and French government allowed the food giant to sell bottled water despite it using a banned filtering method.

According to Le Monde and Radio France, the offices of the French prime minister and president allowed Nestlé to market the non-regulation water, against the recommendation of Jérome Salomon, then director general of health in France.

In September, the water subsidiary of Nestlé, which in France owns the Vittel, Contrex, Hepar and Perrier brands, agreed to pay a fine of €2 million (£1.6 million) to avoid further legal proceedings over illegal wells and treatment of mineral water.

At the time it was facing preliminary probes after complaints by the Foodwatch association that it was using unauthorised water sources and fraudulently filtering its mineral waters. The practice flouts French law which stipulates that mineral waters are supposed to be natural.

But as early as 2023, the two media outlets alleged, the prime minister’s office had “favoured the interests of Nestlé to the detriment of consumers” by granting an exception for the use of micro-filters, which Nestlé said it was using to improve food safety.