Through a notification uploaded on 1 August 2017, the FSSAI has asked for suggestions, views, comments etc. from stakeholders within a period of 60 days on the draft notification related to standards for Spring Water.
The FSSAI has proposed to include the standards for Spring Water in the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011 in the regulation related to BEVERAGES, (Other than Dairy and Fruits & Vegetables based) under the category of Mineral water. The FSSAI proposes to include standards for Spring Water as one of the types of mineral water as previously there were no standards for Springwater.
The FSSAI has included the standards of Spring Water under ‘Description and types of mineral water’. There are already standards for six types of mineral water and Spring Water will be listed as the seventh type of mineral water.
Spring water has been defined as natural mineral water which is derived from an underground formation from which water flows naturally to the surface of the earth at an identified location. Spring water shall be collected only at the spring or through a borehole tapping the underground formation feeding the spring. There shall be a natural force causing the water to flow to the surface through an orifice.
Spring water will conform to all the standards for mineral water that have been specified in the regulations in all respect except in the standards with regard to Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) content.
For Spring Water “TDS of the product shall be not more than 750 mg/ liter”.’
About Bottled Spring water
There are some companies like the Himalayan Natural Spring Water and Mulshi Natural Spring Water and Himalayan which is a joint venture between Tata Global Beverages and PepsiCo India. While Himalayan Natural Spring water comes from Nepal’s Langtang Himalayan Range in the Langtang Valley, Mulshi water comes from the Sahyadri Mountains and Tata’s Himalayan comes from the foothills of the Shivalik range in the Himalayas. All the three Spring water bottlers have stated that Spring water is superior to other packaged water as it is naturally filtered when it passes through the earth, it is free from contaminants and other external influences of population and environment as it is available in areas where there is hardly any population, no factories, and no pollution. While the former two say their water is bottled at the source Tata’s Himalayan is bottled in Dhaula Kuan, Himachal Pradesh and is flavored.