On the 31st of Dec 2014 NHFPC released the national standard GB 19298-2014 Packaged Drinking Water which will become effective on 24 May 2015. The standard will replace GB 19298-2003 Hygienic Standard of Bottled Water for Drinking and GB 17323-1998 Bottled Purified Water for Drinking and will become the first unified standard governing China’s packaged drinking water.
Normalized Naming and Labeling
The standard will apply to all kinds of packaged direct drinking water except natural mineral water. Back in Feb 2014, in the early draft of the new standard it was proclaimed that a restriction on the use of the term “mineral water” in packaged drinking products would be imposed. However, the prohibition specially mentioning mineral water was lifted in the ultimate version. Instead, packaged drinking water has been categorized into purified drinking water and other drinking water. It is articulated within the standard that packaged drinking water shall only be named or labelled with the term water. If any food additive has been added to the product, the claim “with food additives as flavorings” shall be presented on the package next to the product name. There are no specific requirements for font in the official standard.
Cancellation of Several Pathogen Limits
According to past inspection reports, half of the failed samples were attributed to excessive bacterial contamination. However, In comparison with the old national standard several pathogen limits have been removed.
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