New national standard for drinking natural mineral water is to come out

Officials of AQSIQ expressed on July 4 that the revised draft national standard for ??rinking natural mineral water??had been put on the internet to ask for opinions, with the maximum limit for bromate made 0.01mg/L.

It is introduced by related experts that normally there will be bromide but no bromate in water. When water is sterilized with ozone, bromide and ozone would make bromite through chemical reaction. IARC thingks potassium bromate can cause cancer in laboratory animals, but it is not sure if it has the same effect on humans. Consequently, potassium bromate has been listed in materials that may cause human cancer.

In < Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality> of WHO, the maximum limit of bromate in water was made 0.025mg/L in 1993, and it was changed to 0.01mg/L in 2004. The current effective in China also regulates the maximum limit of bromate is 0.01mg/L, which is the same with the standards of WHO.

CAC doesn?? regulate the maximum limit of bromate in mineral water, and some countries in the world do have different regulations on it. For example, EU regulates the maximum limit is 0.003mg/L, while US regulates it should be 0.01mg/L. Because in China, we seldom used ozone to sterilize water in earlier stages, so our national standard for didn?? regulate the maximum limit of bromate. However, in recent years, it has been common for mineral water to adopt the technology of sterilization with ozone, which has made bromite phenomenon prominent. In 2006, SAC issued revise plan of national standard for , and study many times the problem of bromate in mineral water. Referring to the regulations of related international organizations and countries on bromate maximum limit, SAC regulated primarily the maximum limit for bromate was 0.01mg/L. Now the draft standard has been put to internet to ask for public opinions.

Recently, AQSIQ has initiated national supervision special selective examination work on bromate in bottled water. In the 104 kinds of bottled water being examined, 13 of them had more bromate than that was regulated in , and local quality inspection bodies had informed those related enterprises to carry out reform immediately. At present, AQSIQ is organizing national special examinations, requiring all producing enterprises to strengthen technical control and to ensure the bromate in mineral water is up to drinking water standards.