The food ice market in Russia has grown several times in recent years, and the product has turned from a niche one into a commodity of everyday demand on the shelf of federal networks. The choice of source water for ice production is no longer a matter of technology, but of risk management.
What raw materials can be used in ice production
There is no separate technical regulation or SanPiN for food ice in Russia. This does not mean that the category has fallen out of control: ice is legally considered a food product, and the inspection bodies have the right to apply to it the norms applicable to packaged drinking water, including a ban on chlorine preparations. For water of the highest category, which the regulator recommends in the production of similar products, strict guidelines are set: smell when heated – 0 points, taste – 0 points, chlorides – no more than 150 mg/l.
Formally, there is no direct ban on tap water for ice. But if the inspector evaluates the product according to the standards for water of the highest category, a company using tap water risks a claim. Residual free chlorine in centralized water supply systems is kept at the level of 0.3-0.5 mg/l. This is the norm for tap water, but not for food products, and in urban water pipelines, chlorides often exceed 200 mg/l – both indicators go beyond the requirements for water of the highest category.
Assessing regulatory risks in advance is difficult. The manufacturer on the water supply may not face claims for years, but may receive an order after the first check at the height of the season. It is impossible to predict the moment of verification, and in this unpredictability there is an operational risk for the business.
Why chlorine doesn’t disappear in sub-zero temperatures
Proponents of tap water usually make one argument: modern equipment gives transparent ice, which means that the product is visually indistinguishable from that produced on artesian water. This is partly true: ice transparency is determined by the technology of directed freezing, and not the quality of the starting material.
During crystallization of water, dissolved substances are displaced into an unfrozen residue, so the concentration of a number of impurities in the finished ice may be even higher than it was in the original water. Chlorine, when reacted with organic matter that is present in tap water, forms trihalomethanes, including chloroform. Freezing does not reduce their concentration: these compounds turn into a drink when the ice melts and leave a chemical taste that is felt by a significant part of consumers.
Artesian water has a different chemical profile. It lies at a considerable depth under waterproof layers and does not come into contact with surface sources of pollution, so there is practically no organic matter in it that can react with chlorine. Chlorine is not added to artesian water – hence the zero odor and taste indicators required by the standard.
Another important point is the constant level of quality. The composition of tap water depends on the season, the condition of the pipelines and the source of the water intake. In spring, after the flood, stiffness and turbidity grow, in summer chlorination intensifies in the heat, in winter the parameters shift again. The producer of ice on centralized water supply virtually every quarter receives raw materials of different composition.
The composition of artesian water, on the contrary, does not change throughout the production cycle. The manufacturer receives ice of the same composition throughout the year, and with industrial production volumes this is critical.
Own well or purchase from supplier
There is no only correct strategy for switching to artesian water – there are two options. Manufacturers who are already working with their own well or considering drilling it should go through several mandatory steps:
- make an extended analysis of water in an accredited laboratory according to the full range of SanPiN 2.1.4.1116-02 indicators;
- if necessary, install iron removal and softening systems;
- choose a decontamination method without chlorine – UV lamp or ozonizer.
Control of the freezing process solves another problem: it forms the structure of ice, and not its chemical profile, therefore it is separate from the issue of choosing water.
For industries without their own well, there is an alternative: the purchase of artesian water from a specialized supplier. Two conditions are important here – test reports on the profile SanPiN and the supplier’s responsibility for the quality of each batch, fixed in the contract. Without these two elements, the manufacturer remains vulnerable, only now to the water supplier, and not to the water utility.
How water quality affects negotiations with networks
For several years, food ice has become a commodity of everyday demand: it is sold both in hypermarkets and in convenience stores. Federal retailers are evaluating the ice supplier for more than just price – certification requirements and periodic quality control have become standard practice for a category that has grown rapidly from niche to mainstream.
The producer on artesian water receives two specific arguments in the negotiations. First, the marking “from artesian water” is a fact confirmed by the well passport and laboratory test reports, and not a wording for packaging. For the buyer on the shelf, this is a recognizable quality signal by analogy with the bottled water market.
Secondly, the predictability of the composition removes the risks for the category manager of the network: if he once received a complaint about the smell from a batch of ice, when choosing the next supplier, he will give preference to the one who works on artesian raw materials.
True, few buyers are ready to complain about ice with a taste of bleach. Most will simply stop taking it on this network and go to competitors – where, together with ice, they will buy drinks, ice cream, and other related products. Usually in one network there is ice of one, rarely two manufacturers, and if the buyer is disappointed, he will not check the quality a second time.
According to BusinesStat, in 2025, the weekly sales of food ice and cocktail mixes in the Yandex Lavka service in July increased by 40% compared to the same period last year. With the growth of the market, quality requirements are also growing: new buyers get acquainted with food ice without established brand loyalty, and they easily switch between suppliers.
What matters to food ice producers
The growth of the category opens a window of opportunity and at the same time tightens competition. Networks, which two or three years ago first tried to introduce food ice into the product matrix, today form a stable assortment and begin to distinguish suppliers by quality attributes, and not just by the purchase price.
The choice of artesian water closes three sources of loss at once:
- regulatory (non-compliance with the standards for water of the highest category);
- consumer (chemical taste during melting);
- commercial (unpredictability of composition from party to party).
Manufacturers who plan to work with federal networks in the long term should transfer production to artesian water and confirm this with laboratory test protocols already at the stage of negotiations with buyers.
By Igor Yakovlev, founder of the bar ice brand “Cold of the North”