The official regulations covering the subject of the proper labeling of medicinal and table waters is found in Food Inspection Decision 94. In the opinion of the Department of Agriculture all manufactured waters should be labeled as either artificial or imitation, the choice of words being left to the manufacturer. If no distinction is made in the labeling of a water it will be inferred that it is of natural origin. All waters which, though natural in the beginning, have anything added to them or abstracted from them after they come from source, should be labeled as artificial or should be so labeled as to indicate that certain constituents have been added to or abstracted from them. If lithia be added to a natural water, the label should be either "artificial lithia water," "water artificially lithiated," or "water treated with lithia." If carbon dioxid be added, whether the carbon dioxid be of the manufactured variety or collected from the spring itself, the water should either be labeled as "artificially carbonated water," "water artificially carbonated," "water treated with carbon dioxid," or "contains added carbon dioxid." No water should be labeled as a natural water unless it be in the same condition as at source, without additions or abstractions of any substance or substances. No water should be labeled as "medicinal water" unless it contains one or more constituents in sufficient amounts to have a therapeutic effect from these constituents when a reasonable quantity of the water is consumed. No water should be named after a single constituent unless it contains such constituent in sufficient amounts to have a therapeutic effect when a reasonable amount of the water is consumed. No water should be characterized by a geographical name which gives a false or misleading idea in regard to the composition of said water. For instance, it would not be correct to designate a water as "lithia water" merely because the water came from Lithia, Fla., or Lithia, Mass. No natural American spring water should be named after a foreign spring, unless the name of the foreign spring has become generic and indicative of the character of the water, except to indicate a type or style, and then only when so qualified that it could not be offered for sale under the name of the foreign spring.

In a later opinion respecting mineral waters, issued in May, 1914, it is held by the Bureau of Chemistry that if salts be added to a natural water the quantity of salts added need not be stated. Such words as "fortified," "concentrated," "added salts," etc., do not convey the proper information to the purchaser and are considered misleading and objectionable. The label should say: "Contains added sodium chlorid," "Contains added sodium bicarbonate," "Fortified with magnesium sulphate," or any truthful legend of a similar import which conveys the proper information to the consumer.

It is also held by the Bureau of Chemistry that water which has been artificially carbonated cannot ever be properly labeled "a natural mineral water," and if iron or calcium salts or other mineral constituents have been removed or have been allowed to-separate and thus disappear from the water this fact should clearly appear on the label.