Bottled drinking water is virus-, bacteria- and parasite-free. It can therefore be used directly. But not all bottled waters sold in the EU are the same. According to European regulations, bottled drinking water can be classified into 3 groups
?Natural mineral waters
?Spring waters
?Prepared waters
Natural mineral waters are bacteriologically healthy waters, obtained from a subterranean aquifer and which receive no kind of treatment, given their excellent microbiological and physical-chemical quality. They are different from the rest of bottled waters because of their original purity and their chemical composition, which should be stable in time and characteristic of each specific water.
These characteristics have been kept intact given the subterranean origin of the water, by means of the protection of the aquifer against any risk of contamination.
These are, undoubtedly, the bottled waters offering the best quality and sanitary guarantees.
For the rest of bottled waters, certain manipulations or treatments are allowed, with the aim of making the original water comply with the Sanitary Technical Regulations:
filtration, chlorination, ozonization, disinfection, etc.
For the preparation of infant food we should buy bottled natural mineral water with enough information on the label regarding its chemical composition.
In this sense, the Sanitary Technical Regulations for bottled drinking waters establish that the label should include an indication of the analytic composition, enumerating its characteristic components.
For the preparation of infant food, we should pay special attention to the amounts of sodium, calcium, fluoride and nitrates specified on the labels or bottles.