Unlike other food and beverages - which are regulated by the FDA - most alcohol labels are regulated by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). They therefore do not need to follow the FDA’s requirement to carry a Nutrition Facts panel.
But the TTB’s proposals would see alcohol labeling come closer to that for non-alcoholic beverages: with serving sizes, calorie counts and nutritional information on protein and carbohydrates.
Rules on ingredient labeling remain under review at the White House Office of Management and Budget.
The proposals – published on Friday (January 17) are open to public comment for the next 90 days.
While the proposals should give consumers more transparency about what they’re drinking, industry organizations are keen to ensure than any new rules do not penalize small businesses or innovation.
Increased transparency
The proposals come after years of pressure from consumer and health groups for nutrition, ingredient and allergen labeling on alcoholic beverages; as well as an acceptance from the alcohol industry that consumers value transparency and want as much information as possible on their products.
But it’s a shift that’s been some 20 years in the making, with the TTB now unveiling solid proposals for increased labeling.
“The [TTB] proposals represent a momentous step toward ensuring consumers have access to the information they need to make informed choices, follow health guidelines, and avoid allergic reactions,” said Eva Greenthal, Senior Policy Scientist at the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), an organization which started campaigning for increased alcohol labeling transparency back in 2003 and sued the Treasury Department in 2022 for ’19 years of inaction’ on that petition.
“To date, companies have been allowed to provide alcohol content, nutrition, and allergen information voluntarily, but a CSPI study of labels from top brands in 2021 found a limited number of companies were utilizing the voluntary labels, underscoring the need for a mandatory policy.
“A national poll of 1,500 adults who drink, conducted in March 2024, found that a majority support policies to require alcohol content, calorie, nutrition, allergen, and ingredient information on alcoholic beverages.”
TTB's Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRMs)
Allergens
Via Notice No.238, the TTB proposes mandatory disclosure of major food allergens, including milk, eggs, fish, Crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, wheat, peanuts, soybeans and sesame, as well as ingredients that contain protein derived from these foods.
Alcohol Facts
The Alcohol Facts label would require the serving size of the product; the number of servings per container; the alcohol content as a percentage of alcohol by volume; the number of fluid ounces of pure ethyl alcohol per serving; the number of calories per serving; and the number, in grams per serving, of carbohydrates, fat, and protein.
Alcohol industry organizations are now working their way through the proposals to see how businesses would be affected.
While they are generally supportive of the move towards increased transparency, the concern is that alcohol businesses are already subject to strict regulations and new regulations could be difficult for smaller producers to adapt to.
One example of this is the question of putting the required information on QR codes: which had been championed by the industry as it offers more agility for producers with small batches or frequent new launches.
“The two NPRMs, if they become law, would make substantial changes to the labeling of products regulated by the TTB,” said Marc Sorini, Vice President of Government Affairs, The Brewers Association.
“Although we have not fully formulated our position, the Brewers Association is extremely disappointed with some aspects of the NPRMs.
“In comments and in submitting testimony in 2024, we and most other trade associations advocated for a rule allowing information disclosures via an on-label QR Code—an approach embraced by the European Union in its recent wine labeling regulations. The TTB rejects the QR Code solution, implicitly favoring large companies who can spread the cost of new labels or cans across many units.
“We will work hard to ensure that the voices of small and independent brewers are heard in order to protect our members’ interests.”
Unexpected twists
The TTB’s document is 164 pages long: many of the proposals are not a surprise, but some parts are unexpected.
“One of the most novel proposals would require statement of total pure alcohol per serving. This would need to be stated to the nearest tenth of an ounce,” said Marc Sorini, Vice President of Government Affairs, The Brewers Association.
“A curious feature is the TTB’s decision to continue not recognizing “ABV” as an acceptable term to denote alcohol content. Instead, the TTB retained the familiar existing rules permitting “alcohol percentage by volume” or “alc/vol.”
The regulations provide two options for the alcohol facts information: a panel or linear display.
The panel would look similar to the Nutrition Facts panel, while the linear display could place the information in lines of text.
Because the FAA Act definition of malt beverage does not include fermented grain products not made with malted barley or not made with hops, many hard seltzer products would not be subject to these rules.
As products subject to the primary labeling jurisdiction of the federal Food & Drug Administration (FDA), however, such hard seltzer products already must disclose nutritional information as mandated by FDA regulations.
Similarly, wines below 7% alcohol by volume (ABV), a category that includes many hard cider products, would continue to be subject to the FDA’s nutritional labeling regulations under the proposal.
