Leveraging Your NSF Certification: Now that you've received NSF Certification ... why not leverage the Mark to your advantage.
More and more bottlers worldwide are realizing the benefits of having their products Certified by NSF International. Why choose NSF?
The Congressional Subcommittee investigating bottled water stated "...NSF...offers a much more comprehensive plan to bottlers during which NSF performs its own testing and certifies compliance with standards."
From the Proceedings of the Bottled Water Workshop sponsored by the Office of Technology Assessment: "It was suggested that consideration be given to establishing a third-party certification process to ensure that products comply with applicable regulations and all laboratories and all testing is standardized and monitored uniformly. NSF...could perform such a function."
Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Resources Division of Water Supplies' response to public comments on the final form bottled water regulation: "The Department is generally opposed to unequivocally accepting other states' and countries' certifications as not all these regulatory entities utilize the standards contained in 21 C.F.R. Part 129 and with the same stringent protocol as prescribed by NSF." "The purpose of mentioning NSF in the regulations is to establish a nationally accepted standard by which compliance with the referenced Federal regulation must be determined and which serves as a 'definition by example' of a nationally recognized organization mentioned in this section."
The recommendation from the February, 1992, US General Accounting Office Report Limitations of FDA's Bottled Water Survey and Options for Better Oversight states: "In addition, we recommend that the Commissioner, FDA, develop a program in cooperation with the International Bottled Water Association and NSF International, to test the feasibility of using third-party inspection results."
NSF International (NSF) is pleased to provide to the bottled water industry a certification program designed to assist in establishing the credibility of bottled water products, and to assure regulators and consumers that issues raised by ongoing scrutiny are not critical concerns.
Facility Inspection: Audits verify conformance with 21 CFR, Parts 110 and 129 and additional state requirements, if applicable. (Note: For IBWA members, the IBWA-NSF contract audit applies. No additional inspection or audit fees are required for product certification.)
Sampling: Samples of source and product water, and containers and closures, are collected during the facility audit.
Testing: Analyses verify compliance with 21 CFR, Part 103, the IBWA Model Code, and additional state requirements, if applicable.
Labelling: Testing verifies label/product equivalence.
Certification: Two Listings are published and widely distributed every year. Web access, with daily updates, is also available. Use of a formally registered Mark on products, packaging, and advertising is permitted, but optional.
For water intended for US markets, services are equivalent to those listed as "Key Elements -- US bottlers."
For water intended for non-US markets, testing verifies compliance with all applicable requirements; i.e., Ontario Bottled Water Association Model Bottled Water Code, Codex Alimentarious, etc.
Mineral waters are tested and certified where regulations exist.
Contact Ed Logan for a general summary of inspection requirements and a complete list of testing parameters for the Bottled Water Certification Program.