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WORLD FOOD REGULATION REVIEW

AUSTRIA
From Water to Water Natural Mineral
Water
Water intended for human consumption and which
can therefore be consumed without risk to health is
colloquially referred to as drinking water. The law provides further distinctions: natural mineral water, spring
water, tap water and bottled drinking water.
Requirements for natural mineral water
Natural mineral water is water derived from specially protected water resources and is originally pure.
It cannot be disinfected and no treatment as allowed
for in the legislation for drinking water is permitted.
Natural mineral water is thus very clean by nature. Unfortunately, this does not mean that no man-made substances are detectable in the water. The law therefore
sets out maximum values which must not be exceeded
for defined chemical substances, such as pesticides.
Natural mineral water that does not meet these requirements may not be marketed as such. Natural mineral water must first be recognised by the Federal
Ministry of Health, the Austrian authority for mineral
water, as fulfilling all criteria as natural mineral water in
order to be permitted to be marketed. The Austrian
Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) is commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Health, together with
the state food control organisations, to regularly check
mineral water bottlers in Austria.
Possible Causes for Contamination
Natural mineral water is a product of the water cycle,
i.e., is rainwater that is mineral-enriched by long-time
percolation through soil and rock layers, which also
cleans it. Some mineral deposits in Austria are up to 200
metres or deeper below the surface. In addition to the
naturally occurring constituents of the water (minerals,
trace elements, natural radionuclides and heavy metals), foreign substances or products derived from
them through chemical or biological degradation, also
reach the water, due to human activities.
Contamination can have many causes, starting from
faulty well construction (e.g. surface water seeping
through a drilled hole), impurities such as anticorrosive
agents, substances infiltrating through sediment layers
from agricultural land over decades, industrial and
household chemicals or active pharmaceutical ingredients, and food ingredients, food additives and contaminants such as artificial radionuclides from stratospheric
nuclear tests of the 1950s and 60s.
Official Controls
Natural mineral water is one of the EUs most strictly
controlled foods. Due to progress in analytical measure-

ment techniques, more and more individual substances

can be measured at ever lower concentrations. Substances which were analytically invisible years ago,
can be detected with certainty in very small quantities
today. The legislation must therefore establish limits for
defined contaminants. A limit defines the maximum
amount of a substance that may be detected in food,
such that the food is still safe to consume. Minimal exceeding of a limit value does not automatically mean a
danger for human health, because limits are set taking
into account a safety factor.
The Austrian Food Code (Codex Chapter B1 and
B17 chapter) lists the relevant parameters for the purity/cleanliness of the water. Besides natural materials,
we find such parameters for man-made contaminants
such as metabolites (breakdown or conversion products
of plant protection agents).

BELGIUM
Transportation, Collection and Trade of
Livestock
A Royal Decree of 10 June 2014 on the conditions
adopted for the transport, collection and trade of farm
animals was published July 8, 2014. This Order replaces the Royal Decree of 9 July 1999 on the protection
of animals during transport and registration of carriers
and approval conditions traders, breakpoints and assembly centres.
The cattle trade plays an important role in Belgian
breeding. This trade, however, may have a significant
risk of spreading animal diseases. It is therefore necessary to lay down rules on hygiene and traceability of animals, their contacts and their movements. To the extent
that trade is cross-border, these rules are based on harmonized European regulations.
The current Order describes the rules for commercial
transportation, markets and farm animals as well as the
conditions to which assembly centres and stables traders must adhere. It also describes the rules for the organization of local markets, auctions and non-commercial
farm animal gatherings.
In terms of animal welfare during transport, the requirements are included in Regulation (EC) No 1/2005
of 22 December 2004 on the protection of animals during transport and related operations.
This Order is a reworking of the 1999 legislation on
the basis of a number of European recommendations issued in 2008 (the majority of livestock dealers and commercial centres have already adopted this shortly after
the publication of these recommendations).
The most significant change for carriers is that the
vehicles used for the transport of short duration (transport under 8 hours) should no longer be controlled by

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