Rapporteur proposes to exclude all alcoholic beverages from regulation on food labelling

In her report the rapporteur, Renate Sommer (EPP, DE), is proposing to delete all references to alcoholic beverages.

According to the raporteur “special rules are required for alcoholic beverages, which should not be covered by the regulation. In that connection, a number of fundamental issues would first have to be clarified, since, for example, in the case of spirits a reference amount of 100 ml for nutrition indications would be highly problematic and many nutrients contained in food are absent from alcoholic beverages” (see Amendment 18 and 112).

But in case this amendment does not go through. The rapporteur has made some additions to the list of exempted alcoholic beverages (i.e. wine, beer and spirits as defined in the EU legislation). The raporteur has added liqueur wines, sparkling wines, aromatised wines and similar products obtained from fruits other than grapes and fruit beer.

The raporteur has also amended Recital 24 and substituted “therefore, it is appropriate to ensure that information on the nutrient content of in particular mixed alcoholic beverages is provided.” By “It would therefore be helpful if manufacturers were to provide information on the energy content of alcoholic beverages”. Leaving it to the good will of the alcohol industry to provide this essential information to consumers.

The justification she gives for this amendments is that “Although this Regulation does not apply to alcoholic beverages, they can make a substantial contribution to energy intake. It would be consumer-friendly for manufacturers to provide information voluntarily concerning the energy content of alcoholic beverages”.