The information on the label of a bottle of water provides a lot of informationfor the consumer. It is important that this information is accurate in order toprotect the consumer and ensure fair trade.

BSDA represents the industry interests and has worked with the FSA andLACORS to agree guidance for the benefit of consumers, the industry, and theenforcement profession. The main points of this guidance are summarisedbelow.

WHAT IS BOTTLED WATER?There are three differentdenominations of bottledwater:• Natural Mineral Water – comes from a

named source, has a consistent mineralcomposition and is untreated

• Spring Water – comes from a namedsource; may be subject to certainpermitted treatments

• Bottled Drinking Water – any otherpackaged water

The regulations that cover them are the Natural MineralWater, Spring Water and Bottled Drinking Water(England) Regulations 2007 and parallel regulations inScotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Bottled water may have carbon dioxide added to it.Minerals may be added to Bottled Drinking Water (butnot Spring Water or Natural Mineral Water).

If organic material, such as sweeteners or flavourings, isadded to water, it becomes a soft drink and is notclassified as water. This leaflet applies only to drinksclassified as water.

LABELLING OFBOTTLED WATER

Natural Mineral WaterThe sales description must be one of:

“Natural Mineral Water” referring to a stillor non-effervescent product

“Naturally Carbonated Natural MineralWater” meaning an effervescent NaturalMineral Water whose carbon dioxidecontent is the same after bottling as it wasat source

“Natural Mineral Water Fortified with Gasfrom the Spring” meaning an effervescentNatural Mineral Water whose carbondioxide content derives from the sameground water but the carbonation levelafter bottling is greater than that in thesource

“Carbonated Natural Mineral Water”meaning a sparkling Natural Mineral Waterwhich has been carbonated at least in partwith carbon dioxide from another origin.

Spring WaterFor a Spring Water, the sales description isSpring Water with any reasonable qualifiersuch as “sparkling” or “carbonated”. Itshould not include the words “natural” or“mineral” in order to prevent possibleconfusion with Natural Mineral Water.

Bottled Drinking WaterThe following terms may be used in the salesdescription of a Bottled Drinking Water, withthe meanings as described.

Blended – a mix of more than one source

De-ionised – water in which most of themajor ions have been removed by de-ionisation

De-mineralised – water which has beensubjected to distillation, reverse osmosis orde-ionisation

Purified – water which has been treated toremove pollutants or disinfectants

Re-mineralised – water which is made up toa particular chemical composition

Sparkling – can be used where the productis carbonated

Still – can be used to indicate a non-carbonated product

Prohibited termsNatural, Mineral and Spring – these wordsall have specific meanings in the context ofthe denominations of water to which theyapply and should therefore not be used inany other way.

Pure – the Food Standards Agency advisesagainst use of this word on bottled water.

Organic – no water may be called “organic”but the agricultural land in the catchmentarea may have organic approval.

Other information on the label

Name of the source – both Natural MineralWater and Spring Water must be drawn froma named source. The name of the sourcemust appear on the label in type at least50% bigger than any part of the tradedescription. It is not permitted to marketNatural Mineral Water or Spring Water fromany one source under more than one tradedescription.

Chemical analysis – Natural Mineral Watermust have a consistent mineral composition:this must appear on the label in a standardformat prescribed in the regulations. Otherwaters may carry a chemical analysis in thestandard format if their mineral compositionis consistent.

Infant feeding – while it may be permittedin some other European countries, noreference to infant feeding is currentlypermitted on bottled waters in the UK.

Language of the label – all food and drink,including bottled water, must be labelled in alanguage easily understood by the consumer.In the UK, this is taken to mean English.

Other claims – any health and compositionalclaims must comply with the regulations.

SALES DESCRIPTION

OTHER INFORMATIONON THE LABEL

Printed and published by British Soft Drinks Association Ltd, 20-22 Bedford Row, London WC1R 4EB. 2008

FOR MOREINFORMATION

Detailed explanations of this are available in the Guide to Good Bottled Water Standards, available from BSDA. For more information about the soft drinks industry, please contact the Public Affairs Department, British Soft Drinks Association, 20-22 Bedford Row, London WC1R 4EB, tel 020 7405 0300 bsda@britishsoftdrinks.com,www.britishsoftdrinks.com