A new report on alcohol labelling says current voluntary codes are not working, with less than 70% of the labels displaying the Chief Medical Officer's (CMO) recommended weekly drinking guidelines. See BBC report.
Commissioned by the Alcohol Health Alliance, the report undertook a random sample of 424 alcohol containers on shop shelves to assess whether labels included the current CMOs’ guidelines and other essential pieces of information that would allow consumers to make informed choices. The report identifies key findings as:
- More than 70% of the labels that we reviewed still did not include the official, up-to date low-risk drinking guidelines; more than three years after they were updated.
- The industry-funded Portman Group styles itself as the alcohol industry’s “social responsibility body” and “leader in best practice” but 98% of its members’ labels reviewed in this study failed to include the correct CMOs’ low-risk drinking guidelines.
- Nearly a quarter of the labels we surveyed contained misleading, out-of-date health information, such as the old UK guidelines or guidelines from other countries.
- Brand name products were even less likely than supermarket own brands to display the correct low-risk guidelines.
- Almost all (97%) labels displayed a pregnancy warning logo, but only 15% of labels included written information about the risks of drinking during pregnancy.
- Just one of the 424 labels we surveyed featured a factual health warning to explain that alcohol consumption is harmful to health; the remainder included nothing about alcohol-related health risks.
- Over seven in ten labels failed to list the ingredients in the product (72%).
- More than half (56%) of labels included no nutritional information. 37% of labels listed the calories without any further information, and just 7% displayed full nutritional information including calories.
- 73% of labels did not include a warning about drink-driving.
- Over 92% of labels did not include a warning about drinking underage (under 18).
The report calls on the Government to take legislative action stating the voluntary approach has 'failed consistently over the last 20 years'.
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