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Washington, DC; October 12, 2005 -- Representing the views of
the nutrition and public health community and the vast majority
of American consumers, two leading public interest organizations
today called on the federal government to act immediately to
require the same standardized labeling information on beer, wine
and distilled spirits that now appears on all other consumable
products, from foods and beverages to over-the-counter drugs.
Coinciding with the close of
the period in which the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau
(TTB) asked for public comment on the need for beverage alcohol
labeling, Shape Up America! and the National Consumers League
said there is no reason for the TTB to delay giving consumers
access to the most basic information about alcoholic beverages.
Based on a review of the more than 18,000 comments submitted to
TTB, the organizations reported overwhelming public support for
TTB to mandate a standardized “Alcohol Facts” panel providing
such basic information as serving size, calories per serving,
alcohol content per serving, and a “standard drink” on product
labels. Today, alcoholic beverages are the only major category
of consumable products not required to carry label information
summarizing the basic characteristics of the product.
The two public interest
groups also urged TTB to act at once to implement an interim
policy so that manufacturers of alcoholic beverages will be able
to provide alcohol, calorie, and allergen information on their
labels on a voluntary basis. This step will allow consumers to
have limited access to this information while TTB works to
implement a final rule, which can take several years.
“Today, even the most basic
information about alcohol beverages is not required to be
provided on the labels of most alcohol beverage products,” said
Linda Golodner, President of the National Consumers League.
“Just as conventional foods, dietary supplements, and
nonprescription drugs are required to provide a basic minimum of
information needed by consumers to make informed purchasing
decisions, alcohol beverage labels should also be required to
provide this information.”
Echoing this view is the
Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which in detailed comments
submitted to TTB told the agency that mandatory labeling of
beverage alcohol products “is likely to have beneficial effects
on consumers and competition.” According to the staff of the
Bureau of Consumer Protection, the Bureau of Economics and the
Office of Policy Planning at the FTC, the disclosure of alcohol
and nutrient content information on the labels of beer, wine and
distilled spirits would “increase the ability of consumers to
evaluate their actual alcohol, calorie, carbohydrate, and fat
intake.”
Besides the public’s right to
know, a review of the comments submitted by leading public
health and nutrition experts document the many public health
justifications for mandating an “Alcohol Facts” panel. As stated
in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005, the
consumption of alcoholic beverages may have beneficial effects
when consumed in moderation, but can increase the risk for
hypertension, liver disease and certain cancers if consumed in
excess. Moreover, alcohol is a significant source of calories
making it more difficult to maintain a healthy weight. As a
result, the new Dietary Guidelines recommend that people who
choose to drink alcoholic beverages do so in moderation, which
is defined as up to one drink per day for women and up to two
drinks a day for men.
“Given the national obesity
epidemic, it makes no sense that most alcohol beverage labels
contain no information about calories,” said Dr. Barbara J.
Moore, President and CEO of Shape Up America! “Better
information about the alcohol and calorie content per serving
and a definition of a standard drink is especially important and
should be given the highest priority because of the many public
health problems caused by excessive consumption of alcohol.”
To address these public
health concerns, public health and nutrition authorities that
sent comments to TTB urged the agency to include the following
basic information on the labels of all beer, wine and distilled
spirits products:
-
Amount of alcohol per serving;
-
Number of calories per serving;
-
Percent alcohol by volume;
- The
definition of a “standard drink”;
- The
number of standard drinks per container;
- The
advice on alcohol consumption in the current edition of the
Dietary Guidelines for Americans; and
- An
ingredients declaration listing each ingredient by its
common or usual name and identifying any major food
allergens present in the product.
Some of the leading
professional societies that submitted comments to TTB were: the
American Dietetic Association, the American Medical Association,
the American Nurses Association, American Society of Addiction
Medicine, the American Public Health Association, the Society
for Nutrition Education, and the Society for Women’s Health
Research. TTB also heard from leading medical schools and such
distinguished public health officials as former Surgeon General
C. Everett Koop.
Reinforcing these views, the National Consumers League released
the findings of an opinion poll providing new evidence that the
general public overwhelmingly wants more information on the
labels of alcoholic beverages. Conducted for the League by
Opinion Research Corporation, the poll surveyed 983 adult
Americans aged 21 and over between September 22 and September 25
and found that the vast majority favor having access to the
following information: ingredients that may cause allergic
reactions (93%); information on the alcohol content (93%); the
list of ingredients (90%); the amount of alcohol per serving
(87%); the number of calories per serving (83%); the serving
size (82%); servings per container (81%); carbohydrates per
serving (79%); fat per serving (77%); and protein per serving
(70%).
More
significantly, when informed that TTB doesn’t currently permit
beverage alcohol manufacturers to put information on their
labels such as the alcohol content and the serving size, the
poll found widespread public support for changing this policy.
Specifically, nine in ten Americans (89%) say that companies
should be allowed to put information
on their labels that will state how much alcohol is in a
standard serving. Moreover, 86% said TTB should not be able to
prevent companies from disclosing this kind of information on
labels.
“I urge
TTB to pay attention to the opinions expressed in this poll and
take immediate action to implement a mandatory ‘Alcohol Facts’
panel on all beverage alcohol labels,” Golodner said. “NCL
believes that an ‘Alcohol Facts’ panel -- including information
on serving size, alcohol content, a standard drink, calories,
and the Dietary Guidelines’ advice on moderate alcohol
consumption -- will improve the ability of consumers to make
healthy and informed purchasing and consumption decisions. We
urge TTB to expedite this rulemaking.”
The
proposed change in TTB policy comes at a time when half of adult
Americans consume alcoholic beverages. According to the 2005
Dietary Guidelines for Americans, an estimated 55 percent of
adults are drinkers and would benefit from easy access to
standardized labeling information on beer, wine and distilled
spirits products.
In 2003,
the National Consumers League joined with the Center for Science
in the Public Interest and 75 other public health and consumer
organizations in submitting a formal petition to TTB to require
an “Alcohol Facts” panel on the labels of all alcohol beverage
products. This resulted in TTB issuing an advance notice of
proposed rulemaking in April 2005, which stated “because of
increased interest in including nutrition and ingredient
information on alcohol beverage labels, TTB believes it is now
appropriate to consider amending the alcohol beverage labeling
and advertising regulations to provide more specific information
to the consumer.”
Remarks: Linda Golonder, President, National Consumers League
Remarks: Barbara Moore, PhD, President, Shape Up America!
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