Alcohol Concern: supermarkets keeping shoppers in the dark over alcohol information

Message on a Bottle a new report published by Alcohol Concern has found that much of the alcohol sold by supermarkets is poorly labelled, leaving customers in the dark when it comes to vital health information.

The report found that only 4% of products reviewed carried all five elements that make up the industry best practice label. Only 18% of products carried information about sensible drinking levels and 56% carried unit information. In 1998 a voluntary was reached between the drinks industry and the government to introduce unit labelling on all products. In 2008 the drinks industry made further promises to improve alcohol labelling but this research shows that many producers are falling short of their corporate social responsibility pledges.

In the light of this poor progress Alcohol Concern is calling on government to take decisive action to introduce mandatory health labelling on alcohol products and for supermarkets to only promote products that are clearly labelled. Knowing how many units are in alcoholic products and what sensible drinking levels are is part of the Government’s alcohol strategy to help consumers make informed decisions about their drinking similar to consumers being informed about calories and recommended daily allowances (RDAs) in food products.

The charity says that with regular alcohol consumption being linked to 47 different conditions or illnesses it is in the public interest that the government introduces mandatory labels which display, unit information, sensible drinking levels and health warnings.

Alcohol Concern looked at 10 promoted products in branches of five supermarkets, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Waitrose. It tested the packaging and labels of these products against five criteria set out by the Department of Health as the ideal components of an alcohol label: unit information, sensible drinking guidelines, information about drinking whilst pregnant, the Drinkaware website address and the ‘know your limits’ slogan.

Alcohol Concern also looked at supermarket own brand labelled products for comparison. With supermarket own label products almost always being better labelled, it is clear supermarkets 'are aware of good practice in terms of alcohol labelling yet continue to let customers down by promoting products which have poor labels'.

Comments

[Peter Windle]

Is there any rule as to the designated area where alcohol can be displayed for sale?
In my supermarket large quantities of drink are displayed at the entrance.

[James Morris]

Hi Peter,
As I understand, unless its written into a premises' licensing conditions individulally, there would be no such requirements. However as a local resident you could call for a licensing review to the licensing department if it was seen to go against any of the Licesning act 2003 objectives:
1. the prevention of crime and disorder,
2. public safety,
3. prevention of public nuisance, and
4. the protection of children from harm

However, protection of public health was the 5th objective of the Scottish licensing act that was missed out to many people's consternation.

However Oldham have been doing some intersting work lately to try and address this kind of practice, see below:
http://www.alcoholpolicy.net/2009/11/oldham-progresses-action-on-irresponsible-drinks-promotions-at-supermarkets.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlcoholPolicyUk+%28Alcohol+Policy+UK%29

Let us know any progress.
Best, James