The Government is currently consulting on 'how best to continue to communicate information about low alcohol products to the public once the current legislation expires'. See here for further details - closes 10 May 2018.
Health and consumer groups in England and the EU have been re-iterating calls for mandatory alcohol labelling of health relevant information including calories, criticising the latest proposal from alcohol industry bodies for self-regulation.
SpiritsEUROPE has set out a common umbrella voluntary commitment, proposing its members to voluntarily provide ingredient and nutrition information 'either on or off-label' by 2022, favouring a 'digital solution'. Certain health groups however have claimed that the 'industry does everything to avoid providing information to consumers at the point of sale in an easily accessible manner', with Twitter hashtags such as #RightToKnow and #ClarityForConsumers calling for a range of information and labelling related changes.
BEUC, the European Consumer Organisation, said it was 'unacceptable that the nutrition information and ingredients list of alcoholic beverages remain optional whereas they are mandatory on all soft drinks such as fruit juice and sodas'. Eurocare also spoke out, stating the wine industry has been involved in a 'never-ending tale' of failing to define what an 'ingredient' is over 40 years.
At a national level, the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) has also been vocal on the issue, releasing a new 'Labelling the point' report earlier this year. The RSPH says the industry 'has been given a fair crack at self-regulation', highlighting public survey data suggesting the majority of consumers want clear on product labelling and won't search online for it. Given Brexit, the RSPH is urging the Government to bring forward comprehensive proposals for better alcohol labelling, including calorie information, health warnings, and mandatory inclusion of the CMO’s low risk drinking guidelines.
Last year the Department of Health (DoH) released a document outlining how it would like to see the revised drinking guidelines communicated on alcohol packaging and containers. Whilst such guidance is evidently without any legal obligations, the DoH has reportedly given manufacturers until September 2019 to remove the old advice on drinking levels from their products. Last year the Alcohol Health Alliance released a report stating only 1 out of 315 labels it reviewed informed consumers of the revised low-risk weekly guideline of 14 units.
Low or no alcohol: what does it mean?
In addition to demands for health and nutrition information across the alcohol market, calls have also been made to clarify information on low and alcohol-free drinks as a growing sector. A survey by Alcohol Research UK and Club Soda found consumers thought it was hard to make sense of terms such as ‘alcohol-free’, ‘low alcohol’, ‘dealcoholised’ and ‘non-alcoholic’, which currently have different legal definitions. At present ‘low alcohol’ products can currently contain up to 1.2% alcohol whilst some products also use the term ‘light’ or ‘lite’ to mean low alcohol, where others use it to refer to calories. Read an Alcohol Concern blog here following the recent parliamentary event.
Mandatory or voluntary labelling: what's the future?
For now the future for alcohol labelling may as uncertain as many other alcohol policy questions. Health groups though may feel that despite the limitations of information based approaches in changing behaviour, building consumer backing for statutory labelling may lead to support for further alcohol policy measures. Meanwhile the Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group (TaRG) at University of Bristol is conducting an 18-month project aiming to find out what drinkers think about the use of unit and calorie information and are holding a public event taking place later this month.
Currently there appears no unified voluntary commitments on labelling from UK drinks producers following the expiration of the former responsibility deal. In 2011 it had announced a pledge to "ensure that over 80% of products on shelf (by December 2013) will have labels with clear unit content, NHS guidelines and a warning about drinking when pregnant", which was claimed to have been met in 2014. However research from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) reported otherwise, whilst the alcohol pledges overall were deemed to be ineffective. A previous voluntary labelling pledge also failed to deliver according to an independent report in 2010 which identified just 15% of drinks gave consumers sufficient information as per the voluntary code.
According to a recent blog from the Bristol TarG, John Timothy, CEO of the Portman Group, has suggested that the information drinkers need is already available to them: “Producers are encouraged to feature proactive signposting to Drinkaware.co.uk where consumers can find a full range of health information including calories, lifestyle advice and smart apps”. Indeed the role of Drinkaware and its position as the market leader of alcohol-related consumer health information is another area of alcohol policy where opinions may often be found at odds.
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