News Digest January 2004

11 Cities And 25 Companies Vie for Best Tasting Water 2004
February 19-22, 2004

The award-winning Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting welcomes more than one hundred waters from across the country and around the globe on Saturday, February 21. Held in the historic spa town of Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, it is the largest water tasting competition in the world.

Municipal waters compete for the coveted honor of best tasting tap water at 3:30pm. Bottled waters, both still and sparkling will be judged at 7:30pm, along with waters in a new category, purified drinking water. All day Saturday, the public will have an opportunity to vote for the People's Choice award for best packaging.

The International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) emphasizes that water-based products that contain nicotine and are intended for drinking are not “bottled water” and are not produced, marketed or regulated as such. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) fully regulates bottled water as a packaged food product, with specific standards for quality, labeling, and manufacturing practices, among others, that relate to all foods including the bottled water category. Packaged waters with nicotine content are not considered bottled water, since they do not meet the applicable FDA regulatory requirements and standards required of bottled water products.

Packaged waters containing nicotine do not meet FDA definitions of "bottled water," although they may fall under FDA regulatory authority in some other category. In previous correspondence on the matter, FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), the FDA branch responsible for the regulation of conventional foods, nutritional products and dietary supplements, concluded that nicotine is not recognized as an approved food additive, nor is it Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS), a classification applied to ingredients added to conventional food products. Bottled water is classified as a “conventional food.”

Water-based products containing nicotine are not representative of the traditional bottled water industry and, to our knowledge, no IBWA member produces such a product. IBWA wants to clarify its viewpoint on this matter so that like products are not inappropriately classified or characterized as “bottled water.”

Fine Water Down under …

Selling water is thirsty work. Now that bottled water is the coolest drink in town - Australia's demand for the stuff grew by 20 per cent last year, compared to a mere 5 per cent increase in the fizzy drink market - competitors are jumping into the crowded consumer pool.

Five years ago, your typical convenience store would have needed just half a shelf of fridge space for two or three brands of bottled water. These days, chains such as 7-Eleven fill entire displays with a dozen different bottles dolled up in the latest silhouettes and labels. There are more than 1000 water brands available in Australia, ranging from market leaders Coca-Cola Amatil and Schweppes through to boutique "rain farms", supplying Australians with more than 520 million litres of the stuff each year. Even local beer giant Foster's sells bottled water through its Torquay soft drink brand.

Water Coolers Lose Standing At The Office.  The Bottle Is Now The Standard

The water cooler, a fixture of the American office for as long as Americans have been in offices, could be headed the way of the glass milk bottle and the phone booth, victims of a cheaper, more reliable competitor.

Companies are abandoning their bubbling coolers with the upside-down, five-gallon jugs for filter machines that deliver hot and cold filtered tap water.

A new generation of filters and other changes in the industry have cut into the demand for the big jugs at a time when Americans are drinking more bottled water in small bottles than ever before.

You’re Not Someone Until You Have Your Own Brand Of Fine Water

The cult of the celebrity knows few bounds. The rich and famous are now stocking fridges with their own brands of water.

Watermedia, part of the Perthshire-based Highland Spring group, has set up a service to supply celebs with their own-label mineral water.

David Coulthard has become the first to place an order for three different ranges to be served on his yacht in Monaco, his parents’ villa in Spain and his museum’s café in Twynholm.

Watermedia director Richard Beeston said own-branded water was increasingly popular among celebrities. "We are following a US trend where music celebrities, TV and film stars are drinking own private label water, and this looks set to continue as we’re noticing a growing celebrity market.

"Over the last few years there’s been an increasing move by celebrities to have their own clothing ranges and so on, and this is an extension of that."

Washington Fine Water Drinkers Get Tax Break

That bottle of designer water may cost a little less when changes to Washington's sales tax kick in this month.

But watch out for a hike on sweetened ice tea and a tax on your morning doughnut.

The changes stem from a new law that brings the state's tax codes into line with 40 other states that have signed onto the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement.

Under the current law, bottled water and all carbonated beverages aren't considered food. Under the new law, any sweetened beverage is taxed unless it contains milk, milk substitute or more than 50 percent fruit or vegetable juice.

And that doughnut will probably be taxed in January under a provision that taxes prepared food served with utensils. Yes, the napkin counts.

But if you buy a dozen doughnuts, that counts as tax-free groceries

Springmill Products, Inc. has patents pending for its pure, glacier water designed expressly for pets, PetRefresh®. The patent application is directed to the unique composition of the PetRefresh product, as well as its uses and sterilization processes.

PetRefresh pet drinking water was introduced to the Seattle area market in March, 2003. Unlike tap water, no chemicals are used in the sterilization process for PetRefresh. Springmill Products, Inc.’s three-step purification process uses ultraviolet light and ozone to allow PetRefresh to deliver pure, glacier water packed with vital nutrients pets need. These nutrients are eliminated in tap water and filtered water.

Fels came upon the idea after he noticed his dog, Jason, wasn’t drinking tap water. Fels developed “Jason’s water” and began giving bottles away to friends and neighbors to use for their pets. The local response was so positive that PetRefresh was born.

Founder Bill Fels has used the basic argument “if your water tastes bad to you, how does it taste to your pet?” to get PetRefresh pet drinking water into pet retail locations, veterinarian offices, and water stores in Washington State and Canada. Fels will be expanding into California in January, 2004.

Soft Drinks set to become World's leading Beverage S ector

Global consumption of soft drinks is rising by 5% a year, well ahead of all other beverage categories, according to the new 2003 Global Soft Drinks Report from leading drinks consultancy Zenith International.  Now challenging hot drinks to become the largest overall sector, soft drinks volume is projected to reach 467 billion litres in 2003, equivalent to 75 litres per person.

"Economic and climate variations around the world present complications for all soft drinks companies, but many have succeeded at weathering the elements," commented Zenith Research Director Gary Roethenbaugh.  "As a combined category, soft drinks offer a powerful growth proposition.  The unrelenting advance of bottled water and still drinks, coupled with the scale of carbonates, help place soft drinks on track to become the number one beverage sector in 2005."

Amongst the highlights from the Zenith report:

• Carbonates are the largest soft drinks segment, with a 2002 share of 42%. Bottled water is catching up fast at 32%. Still drinks form the third segment on 11%, followed by fruit juice/nectars on 8% and dilutables on 7%.
• Bottled water is the fastest growing soft drink, up by 9% in 2002.
• The United States is the world’s biggest soft drinks market by a substantial margin, with a 24% global share in 2002.
• Three countries – the United States, Mexico and China – are leaders in the two most important segments, carbonates and bottled water.
• The top five fastest growing countries over the past five years to 2002 were exclusively from the emerging regions of Asia, East Europe and the Middle East.
• The highest growth was achieved by Pakistan, with volume up by 146% since 1997.
• By 2007 Asia and Australasia is forecast to become the front runner with a 25% share, outpacing North America on 24%.

Zenith predicts that 90 billion litres will be added to global soft drinks consumption by 2007.  This represents continuing annual growth of 4-5%. "Asian growth is expected to lead the way at 7-9% a year.  The huge populations, increasing affluence and underdeveloped soft drinks markets of China and India present massive opportunities.  Strong growth is also anticipated in a number of countries across East Europe, the Middle East and Africa," concluded Gary Roethenbaugh.

Poland Spring settles.  Consumers to get $8 Million

A state judge in Illinois approved a settlement of a class-action lawsuit alleging that Poland Spring bottled water is not as pure as the company's ads claim.

The lead plaintiff, Kenneth Ramsey, will get $12,000 under the settlement, his two lawyers are set to receive $1.35 million, consumers will get $8,050,000 in coupons and discounts over the next five years and Poland Spring will contribute $2.75 million to charity over the same period. The company also agreed to step up monitoring of water quality.

Poland Spring is the country's biggest-selling spring water, with sales last year of more than $600 million. Only Aquafina and Dasani - filtered waters bottled by Pepsi and Coca-Cola, respectively - sell more bottled water than Poland Spring.

Schools dropping the sale of Soda
Kentucky Post, KY

Last month, Dixie Heights High School Principal Kim Banta decided to replace the soda pop in vending machines at her school with water and sports drinks.

Lloyd Memorial High School switched to bottled water in its vending machines in the fall.

School principals and administrators are making the changes in the face of a growing body of medical research linking fast food and sugary sodas to childhood obesity and because of concerns from a health-conscious public.

New brain research also promotes water as beneficial for improving learning.

The American Academy of Pediatrics added to the debate Monday when it recommended that schools ban soda pop altogether.