Truth in bottled water labeling required by FDA

The US Food and Drug Administra-tion (FDA), which regulates the bottled water industry, requires that all food products adhere to “truth in labeling.” This means that a label “says what it means and means what it says,” reflecting the product’s true quality.

The FDA’s position stems from its belief that there were misleading images of water sources displayed on bottled water labels in the early 1980s. In one case, a bottler had shown a waterfall and mountain image on its label, when in fact the water was drawn from an artesian well in the Ogallala Aquifer in Texas — a water source not even remotely similar to the image on the label.

The FDA then revised the rules to force bottlers to cite their water source, whether natural spring water, artesian water, municipal water, etc. With such confirmed standards of identity in the regulation, bottlers must ensure that all aspects of the label reflect the true nature of the source, even by implication.

On the Principal Display Panel (PDP) or Information Panel, bottled water labels must show certain basic information :

If the bottler makes health-related claims such as high calcium or added vitamins, the bottler must place, in a prominent position and parallel to the base of the label, such nutritional information, like “dietary supplement.”

The name of the supplement and a descriptive statement such as “herbal supplement” is required as well.

The FDA promulgated the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA) to protect consumers from false food benefit claims.

The FDA considers water to have no significant nutritional value, so any health-related claim, implied or otherwise — such as low sodium, no sodium or added vitamins/minerals — requires bottlers to add a Nutrition Facts panel on the label.

A basic Nutrition Facts panel must include a statement of calories, total fat, sodium content, total carbohydrates, protein and any other specific nutritional information.

When a bottler decides to attempt a healthy-for-you claim in an effort to create a point of differentiation, that bottler must consider the validity of its claim, the label design, and whether the benefit of the claim substantially improves market position.

Some bottlers claim their products are a nutritional supplement instead of just bottled water. The FDA has been less aggressive in its management of such claims, making it easier for bottlers to suggest health claims and benefits. However, the product must be sold as a nutritional supplement, not bottled water.

For example, if the presence of calcium is such that it is 50 percent of the reference daily intake (RDI), the product could be considered a food for special dietary use or a nutritional supplement.

As more bottlers and food manufacturers seek to use nutritional supplements as possible points of differentiation, the FDA is aimimg toward tightening up the use of such claims.

Bottlers must identify all ingredients, including artificial flavorings and preservatives, and use the required type font size to display this information. In all cases, non-compliance with this can result in the FDA ordering a recall and/or fines.