Notification of the Ministry of Public Health (No. 199) B.E. 2543 (2000) Re: Mineral Water

© 2003 FDA, MOPH (Unofficial) Notification of the Ministry of Public Health (No. 199) B.E. 2543 (2000) Re: Mineral Water It deems appropriate to amend the notification of the Ministry of Public Health, Re: Mineral water. By the virtue of the provisions of Sections 5 and 6 (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) and (10) of the Food Act B.E. 2522 (1979), in which contain provisions in relation to the restriction of Rights and Liberties of the Persons, in respect of which Section 29 and in conjuntion with Section 35, Section 48 and Section 50 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand so permit by virtue of provisions of law; the Minister of Public Health hereby issues the notification as follows: Clause 1. The notification of the Ministry of Public Health No. 146 B.E. 2532 (1992), Re: Mineral Water, dated 30th September B.E. 2535 (1992) shall be repealed. Clause 2. Mineral Water in sealed containers is prescribed food to have qualities or standards. Clause 3. Mineral Water means mineral water which is derived from underground water resource and contained several minerals depending on source of water. Clause 4. Mineral water shall be only produced in the area of natural water resource and may be processed before packaging. However, such process shall be made according to the following description only: (1) Adjustment of the gas quantity in mineral water. (2) Elimination of unstable substances such as iron, manganese, sulfur and arsenic, etc., shall be made only by decantation process and/or filtration process. Aeration process may be used before the elimination process in order to accelerate the precipitation and/or filtration, if necessary. Mineral Water production process as stipulated in the first phrase shall not alter the major substances in mineral water. Clause 5. Mineral Water shall be of the qualities or standards as follows: © 2003 FDA, MOPH (1) Clear and free of sediment. (2) The quantity of mineral in mineral water shall not be hazardous to health as the followings: (2.1) Copper not more than 1 mg. per 1 liter of mineral water. (2.2) Manganese not more than 2 mg. per 1 liter of mineral water. (2.3) Borate, to be calculated as boron, not more than 5 mg. per 1 liter of mineral water. (2.4) Arsenic, to be calculated as total arsenic, not more than 0.05 mg. per 1 liter of mineral water. (2.5) Barium not more than 1 mg. per 1 liter of mineral water. (2.6) Cadmium not more than 0.003 mg. per 1 liter of mineral water. (2.7) Chromium, to be calculated as total chromium, not more than 0.05 mg. per 1 liter of mineral water. (2.8) Lead not more than 0.01 mg. per 1 liter of mineral water. (2.9) Mercury not more than 0.001 mg. per 1 liter of mineral water. (2.10) Selenium not more than 0.05 mg. per 1 liter of mineral water. (2.11) Nitrate, to be calculated as nitrate, not more than 50 mg. per 1 liter of mineral water. (2.12) Antimony not more than 0.005 mg. per 1 liter of mineral water. (2.13) Nickel not more than 0.02 mg. per 1 liter of mineral water. (3) Contaminants shall be detected not more than the followings: (3.1) Cyanide not more than 0.07mg. per 1 liter of mineral water. (3.2) Nitrite, to be calculated as nitrite, not more than 0.02 mg. per 1 liter of mineral water. (3.3) Free of pesticides. (3.4) Free of polychlorinated biphenyls. (3.5) Free of surface active agents. (3.6) Free of mineral oil. (3.7) Free of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (4) Microbiological content: © 2003 FDA, MOPH (4.1) Coliform bacteria shall be detected less than 2.2 per 100 ml. of natural mineral water by Most Probably Number Method (MPN). (4.2) Escherichia coli. shall not be detected. (4.3) Free of pathogenic microorganisms Clause 6. Mineral water producers or importers for sales shall follow to the notification of the Ministry of Public Health, Re: Production processes, production equipments and foods storages. Clause 7. Usage of containers for mineral water shall not only follow to the notification of the Ministry of Public Health, Re: Containers, but also shall be one of the following features: (1) Container shall have cap or stopper, and after fill in, it shall be sealed or sealed around between cap or stopper and bottle or containers. (2) Sealed containers, except for container as stipulated in (1) The seal or sealing part of the containers as stipulated in (1) and (2) shall be damaged after opening. Clause 8. Labels of mineral water (1) Shall follow to the notification of the Ministry of Public Health, Re: Labels, except for the usage of mineral water name shall be as follows: (1.1) The name of mineral water shall be expressed of the mineral water resources and may be either adjoin with trade name or not, and shall be expressed of the name of adjustment of the gas quantity, according to Food Standard of FAO/WHO, Codex, Re: Mineral water, and the amended version. (2) Declarations of the main minerals content. (3) Declaration of the objective of processing as stipulated in 4(2), (if any). (4) Declaration of the warning in red rectangle border of white background, with alphabets height of not smaller than 2 millimeters and must be clearly visible, details as following: “Contain fluoride” for natural mineral water that have fluoride content of more than 1 mg. per 1 liter of mineral water, and express additional warning “This product is not suitable for infant and lower than 7 years old children” for mineral water that have fluoride content more than 2 mg. per 1 liter of mineral water. (5) Labels shall be expressed in Thai language, but foreign language may be accompanied, and can be clearly visible at containers, not at cap or stopper. © 2003 FDA, MOPH Clause 9. Food Registration or Food Labelling , which are issued to follow the notification of the Ministry of Public Health No. 146 B.E. 2535 (1992), Re: Mineral water, dated 30th September B.E. 2535 (1992), prior to this notification, shall be valid for 2 years as from the come into force date of this notification. Clause 10. Mineral water producers or importers, whose permits issued prior to this notification, shall apply for food serial number within one year as from the come into force date of this notification. After applying for food serial number, mineral water producers or importers shall be abated from stipulation in Clause 6 for a period of 2 years after this notification come into force. As a result, the remaining labels are allowed to be used until last but not exceeding to 2 years after this notification come into force. Clause 11. This notification shall come into force after 180 days as from the day following date of its publication in the Government Gazette. Notified on 19th September 2000 (Signed) Korn Thupparungsri (Mr. Korn Thupparuagsri) Minister of Public Health (Published in the Government Gazette Vol. 118, Special Part 6 Ngor, dated 24th January 2001) Note : This English version of the Notification is translated to meet the need of the non-Thai speaking people. In the case of any discrepancy between the Thai original and the English translation, the former will take priority.