By Ahmed ElAmin
Proposed revisions
to laws covering the bottled water sector would consolidate and clarify various
regulations in existence across England.
The
revisions would clarify the detailed legislative requirements governing the
industry and reduce burdens on bottled water producers and local
regulators, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) said yesterday in publishing the
proposed changes.
The proposed law
consolidates the requirements of the existing 1999 law governing producers and
bottlers of natural mineral
water, spring water and bottled drinking water regulations 1999 as
amended by changes made in 2003 and 2004.
"The aim is to make
the collective instructions more transparent and user friendly," the FSA
stated. "By incorporating text from the parent directives it is anticipated
that the need to cross-reference will be reduced. By virtue of this
consolidation, enforcement bodies and stakeholders will be provided with a
single statutory instrument against which compliance with the regulations can be
measured."
Some of the changes
include the redrafting of the minimum hardness requirement for spring water and
drinking water that has been softened or desalinated.
The requirement puts
a limit by how much processors can soften or desalinate water. Hardness consists
of a complex mix of polyvalent minerals, the main component of which is calcium.
The calcium concentration is there as an indicator of the hardness level present
in the water.
"The reason for this
requirement is the large body of epidemiological evidence that hardness in water
has a benefit to cardiac heart health, but it is not known exactly what it is in
the water hardness that causes the benefit," the FSA stated in
guidance notes accompanying the proposals.
Provisions for using
infant feed claims on natural mineral water may also be incorporated into the
draft regulations if time permits, the FSA stated.
The proposal on the
infant feed claims are not included in the draft text of the proposed regulation
as it already went through the consultation process last year, the regulator
stated.
The FSA estimates
that a technical or regulatory affairs manager from any of the 64
UK bottled water
producers spends about two to three days on average working with local
authorities discussing legislation.
Many companies also
employ consultants to aid their work with legislation. The regulator estimates
that producers will be able to achieve cost savings due to less pressure on the
time of managers and consultants and estimates this would amount to £79,000 in
savings every year by the bottled water industry.
The FSA also looked
at the legislation's affect on small businesses and found that the impact would
be "insignificant."
The bottled water
market in the UK was worth an
estimated £1.7bn (€2.5bn)in 2005, compared to £1.57bn (€2.3bn) in 2004.
Consumers bought about two billion litres in 2005.
Natural mineral water
accounted for 56 per cent of all bottled water consumption by volume, while
spring water or regular bottled drinking water took a a 27 per cent
share.
The remaining 17 per
cent of the volume sales were attributed to the soft drink segment, made up of
flavoured water, a product not directly covered by the proposed
regulation.
The
UK's bottled water
industry is dominated by six major brands that share 54 per cent of the
market.
In 2005, the three
leading brands of bottled water accounted for 15.6 per cent , 13.5 per cent and
6.4 per cent of branded sales by volume. Private label volume share stood at 46
per cent. Danone is the dominant player, with the
UK's Highland Spring
coming second.
About 50 per cent of
UK adults drank bottled
water in 2004. The propensity to purchase still bottled water is highest among
those aged between 15 to 24 years. The age group accounted for 58 per cent of
the market. The tendency to by bottled water declines with age to reach 26 per
cent among those over 65 years of age.
The FSA plans on
implementing the new legislation to come into force on 1 October
2006.
Resources:
AP Food Technology
|
The Water Connoisseur
