The majority of wine, beer, and spirit producers are not obligated to properly state what is in their products on the bottle or can. The federal government has now responded to a 20-year campaign by public interest groups to demand more thorough labelling, so that may soon change.
In mid-November, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, the organisation that oversees labelling in a large portion of the alcohol industry, released a letter outlining plans to establish regulations for nutritional, allergen, and ingredient information for beer, wine, and spirits labelling by the end of 2023.
As a more health-conscious population seeks more information on what it consumes, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group that initially petitioned for the improved and obligatory labels in 2003, applauds the decision. Although some producers already voluntarily include certain information on their labels, the plan to create regulations for alcohol labels is already putting pressure on the industry, which is concerned that overly strict requirements could be burdensome, particularly for smaller breweries, distilleries, and winemakers.
According to Matt Simon, associate director of litigation at CSPI, “there is certainly a significant consumer demand in this information, and the industry which was, you know, quite aggressively opposed to this in 2003 has sort of come around a bit.”
By implementing transparency across the board for alcoholic beverages, the change could alter how most people purchase and consume beer, wine, and liquor. Additionally, it would have a substantial impact on a sector with a market value of hundreds of billions of dollars, compelling multinational corporations to make large investments to comply with the new regulations that go beyond simply declaring alcohol by volume and other sparse information.
Because the issue lacked political relevance and split the industry, past administrations chose not to address the initial petition, allowing alcohol manufacturers to avoid specific labelling regulations for years. Despite starting a rulemaking process in 2005, the government never produced any rules beyond recommendations for voluntary labelling.
Since the administration’s report on the competition in the alcohol industry, which was published in February, stated that proposed regulations on allergen, nutrition, and ingredient labelling “could serve public health and foster competition by providing information to consumers,” many people anticipated that the administration would take action.
It was made obvious by the study and President Joe Biden’s executive order on competition for 2021 that the government gave alcohol a high priority and that labelling would play a significant role in it. In order to force the government to act on their petition, the CSPI and other consumer advocacy organisations filed a lawsuit in October.
According to Lisa Mankofsky, director of litigation for CSPI, “because of the history in this matter, where sometimes things were proposed and they were never finalised, we do want to use this litigation to try and work with the TTB on getting a commitment to noticing the rulemaking in a time that would be mutually acceptable.”
The change toward obligatory labelling also coincides with a significant shift in the alcohol market as a result of the pandemic. States relaxed rules and accepted to-go cocktails. Increased alcohol-related deaths also followed that change.
The three labelling requirements, which are focused on ingredients, allergies, and alcohol content, respectively, will be open to public opinion. In response to a request for comments on upcoming labelling rulemaking, the TTB, which controls labelling for malted beverages including beer and alcohol greater than 7 percent by volume, did not provide any information.
Michael Kaiser, vice president of the trade association Wine America, said, “We’re not trying to obfuscate, but I think we absolutely want it to be based on authenticity and that’s something we’d like to see clarification on [when the rules are introduced].”
Health campaigners want the substances in wine that are added as additives, such as egg whites or fish bladders, to be made public. Kaiser, however, clarified that the alterations are imperceptible in the finished item and won’t cause an allergic reaction.
