Proposed Alcohol Labeling Requirements Offer Long Overdue Transparency to Drinkers

Washington, D.C. - Consumer Federation of America today applauded the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau's (TTB's) release of two Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRMs) that, if finalized, would require alcoholic beverage labels to include an "Alcohol Facts" statement and disclose the presence of major allergens. The rulemakings partly respond to demands that CFA and other consumer and public health advocates have made for decades, including through federal litigation.

The proposals will go a long way towards ending the "alcohol labeling exceptionalism" that has prevailed in the market since Congress passed the Nutrition Labeling Education Act (NLEA) in 1990. Under the proposals, alcoholic beverage labels must present, in a table or linear format, an "Alcohol Facts" statement, similar to the "Nutrition Facts" statement on other food and beverages. The "Alcohol Facts" statement must disclose the percentage of alcohol by volume, the amount of alcohol per serving to the nearest tenth of an ounce, calories, and the amount in grams of carbohydrates, sugar, fat, and protein. The alcohol content labeling will apply to wine as well as all other beverages, closing an important loophole. Expressing alcohol content both as a percentage and in fluid ounces may help some consumers to track their consumption and avoid inadvertently exceeding designated blood alcohol limits for driving.

The proposed requirements offer important relief to consumers with allergies, requiring labels to declare milk, eggs, fish, Crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, wheat, peanuts, soybeans, sesame, and ingredients derived from these foods. These requirements will bring alcoholic beverages into conformity with the allergen labeling rules applicable to all other food and beverage products. However, consumers that rely on ingredient labeling to identify additional allergens will continue to be subject to at least one remaining area of "alcohol labeling exceptionalism." The proposals omit ingredient labeling requirements applicable to other food and beverage products.

TTB's rulemaking proposals come on the heels of an advisory on alcohol and cancer risk from the U.S. Surgeon General, and a draft report on alcohol and health by the Interagency Coordination Committee on the Prevention of Underage Drinking (ICCPUD), which both underscore the harms associated with consuming alcohol even in "moderate" amounts. TTB's proposed requirements will help consumers seeking to mitigate the health risks associated with alcohol consumption to drink more intentionally.