Natural mineral water
183A.—(1)  Natural mineral water shall be underground water obtained directly from underground water bearing strata and characterised by its content of certain mineral salts and their relative proportions, and the presence of trace elements or of other constituents.
(2)  No water shall be advertised, labelled or sold as natural mineral water for the purposes of these Regulations unless documentary evidence to the satisfaction of the Director-General is furnished from the place of origin that the natural mineral water is genuine.
(3)  Natural mineral water shall not be subjected to any treatment other than —
(a)the filtration or decanting, preceded, if necessary, by oxygenation, to remove the unstable constituents, so long as such treatment does not alter the composition of the natural mineral water in respect of its stable constituents;
(b)the total or partial elimination of carbon dioxide by exclusively physical methods; and
(c)the addition of carbon dioxide, so long as the package containing the natural mineral water is labelled with the appropriate description.
(4)  Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in these Regulations —
(a)natural mineral water shall contain not more than —
(i)0.005 ppm of antimony;
(ii)0.01 ppm of arsenic, calculated as As;
(iii)0.7 ppm of barium;
(iv)5 ppm of borate, calculated as B;
(v)0.003 ppm of cadmium;
(vi)0.05 ppm of chromium, calculated as Cr;
(vii)1 ppm of copper;
(viii)0.07 ppm of cyanide;
(ix)0.01 ppm of lead;
(x)0.4 ppm of manganese;
(xi)0.001 ppm of mercury;
(xii)0.02 ppm of nickel;
(xiii)50 ppm of nitrate calculated as nitrate;
(xiv)0.1 ppm of nitrite calculated as nitrite;
(xv)0.01 ppm of selenium;
(xvi)3 ppm organic matter calculated as O2; and
(xvii)0.05 ppm of sulphide calculated as H2S,
and shall contain no detectable amounts of mineral oil, phenolic compounds, surface active agents, pesticides, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons and polychlorinated biphenyls; and
(b)natural mineral water shall be —
(i)free from parasites and pathogenic micro-organisms;
(ii)free from sporulate sulphite-reducing anaerobes in any 50 ml sample examined; and
(iii)free from Escherichia coli, other coliforms, faecal streptococci and Pseudomonas aeruginosa in any 250 ml sample examined.
[S 195/2011 wef 15/04/2011]
(5)  Prepacked natural mineral water shall bear a label showing —
(a)the name and location of the source of water; and
[S 195/2011 wef 15/04/2011]
(b)the analytical composition giving characteristics to the product.
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(6)  Where the natural mineral water contains more than 600 ppm of sulphate other than calcium sulphate, the package containing the natural mineral water shall bear a statement indicating that the natural mineral water may be laxative.
(6A)  Where the natural mineral water contains more than 1 ppm of fluoride, the following words shall be printed on the label as part of, or in close proximity to, the name of the product or in an otherwise prominent position:
“contains fluoride”.
[S 195/2011 wef 15/04/2011]
(6B)  Where the natural mineral water contains more than 1.5 ppm of fluoride, the following words shall be printed on the label in addition to the words referred to in paragraph (6A):
“The product is not suitable for infants and children under the age of seven years”.
[S 195/2011 wef 15/04/2011]
(7)  For the purposes of this regulation, natural mineral water includes spring water.