The US Department of the Treasury’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) has proposed new regulations for the information included in the labels on alcoholic drinks.
A proposed “Alcohol Facts” label mandates including the percentage of alcohol by volume, alcohol content in fluid ounces, calories, carbohydrates, fat and protein.
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The TTB has also put forward a rule requiring the listing of major food allergens on the labels.
The TTB’s proposals follow the release of a public health advisory earlier this month from the US Surgeon General about the links between alcohol consumption and cancer risk.
Last week, a draft report from the Interagency Coordination Committee on the Prevention of Underage Drinking (ICCPUD) also highlighted the risks associated with alcohol consumption, even in moderate amounts.
The latest proposed rules align with the outcomes of a February 2022 Treasury Department report titled “Competition in the Markets for Beer, Wine, and Spirits,” which recommended revisiting labelling requirements for alcohol content, nutritional information, and serving sizes.
The bureau has proposed a compliance deadline of five years following publication of the final rules in the Federal Register, to reduce the costs and burdens associated with these changes.
Interested parties have until 17 April to submit comments on the TTB’s plans.
According to the statement, the changes aim to ensure that alcohol beverage labels give consumers “adequate information about the identity, quality, and alcohol content” of alcoholic beverages.
Advocacy group the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) submitted a petition to improve labelling on alcoholic drinks back in 2003, and even sued the Treasury Department in 2022 for lack of action on the petition.
Speaking on the TTB’s latest proposal, senior policy scientist Eva Greenthal said: “The proposals represent a momentous step toward ensuring consumers have access to the information they need to make informed choices, follow health guidelines, and avoid allergic reactions.”
Until now, companies have been permitted to voluntarily include alcohol content, nutrition and allergen information on labels. However, a 2021 study by the CSPI found that few brands were adopting these voluntary labels, highlighting the need for a mandatory policy.
Calling the new labelling requirements a “long overdue transparency to drinkers” non-profit group Consumer Federation of America said: “These requirements will bring alcoholic beverages into conformity with the allergen labelling rules applicable to all other food and beverage products.
“However, consumers that rely on ingredient labelling to identify additional allergens will continue to be subject to at least one remaining area of “alcohol labelling exceptionalism.”
The proposals omit ingredient labelling requirements applicable to other food and beverage products.
Trade association Distilled Spirits Council of the United States added that “regulations are developed in a thoughtful manner so that they do not unduly burden distillers…”
It also suggested “the use of on-label QR codes or website references”, allowing distilled spirits companies greater flexibility in providing information to consumers.
