Source: LOHAS Weekly Newsletter
Published: Tuesday, December 17, 2002

The European Commission's (EC's) Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health has approved a proposal to strengthen legislation regarding the purity of natural mineral waters that establishes maximum concentrations for natural substances, such as arsenic, barium, fluoride, boron and manganese that may pose long-term health risks at high concentrations. The committee also reinforced labeling standards that apply to natural mineral waters, which will take effect Jan. 1, 2004.

To comply, companies that sell natural mineral water products to European Union countries might need to “invest heavily in treatment processes in order to meet all the limit values,” according to a Dec. 13 article at FoodandDrinkEurope.com. In order to accommodate this process, the Commission has proposed that makers of non-compliant products be allowed to bring their products to full compliance by Jan. 1, 2006.