Alcohol labelling- what does society want?

1. Alcohol labelling
– what does society want?
#RightToKnow – International Conference onAlcohol
Labelling - 10 October 2019, Helsinki
Sebastian Hielm, Food Safety Director
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry

2. Alcohol labelling – what does society want?
Background
• rules for food labelling have been harmonized within the EU legislation
• consumers have the right to be informed about the content of the food, including
beverages, they buy and consume
• the list of ingredients and the nutrition declaration is the key information helping
consumers to make more informed and healthier choices
• alcoholic beverages fall within the scope of the EU legislation on food information but
they have been exempted from the mandatory labelling of ingredients and nutritional
content
• according to several studies the consumers’ knowledge of the ingredients and the
nutritional value of alcoholic beverages is limited
• the issue concerning more detailed rules for labelling of alcoholic beverages has been on
the agenda since the early 1980s without any progress
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3. Alcohol labelling – what does society want?
Inconsistency in labelling
• Report from the Commission regarding the mandatory labelling of alcoholic beverages
(COM(2017)58)
• ”The Commission has not identified objective grounds that would justify the absence
of information on ingredients and nutrition information on alcoholic beverages or a
different treatment for some alcoholic beverages.”
➢inconsistency in the labelling between alcoholic beverages and other foods can not be
justified
• A list of ingredients and nutrition declaration – at least the energy value – should be
mandatory for all alcoholic beverages
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4. Alcohol labelling – what does society want?
Calls for action
• WHO’s European Action Plan to reduce the harmful use of alcohol 2012-2020
• ingredients relevant to health, including calory content should be labelled
• The European Parliament’s resolution 2015
• called upon the Commission to present a legislative proposal requiring calory content
on alcoholic beverages
• Council conclusions 2015
• invited the Commission to introduce mandatory labelling of ingredients and nutrition
declaration, in particular the energy value, of alcoholic beverages
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5. Alcohol labelling – what does society want?
Actions taken
• proposed amendments of CMO [Common organisation of markets] Regulation (EU)
1308/2013 – mandatory labelling of wines
• on the label nutrition declaration, which may be limited to the energy value only;
• the list of ingredients, which may be provided in electronic form identified on the label
or packaging;
• self-regulatory actions of various sectors:
• spirit sector (Memorandum of Understanding)
• energy value on label and the list of ingredients off label - over the coming years
• brewery sector (Memorandum of Understanding)
• ingredients and energy values on all beer bottles and cans in the EU by 2022
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6. Alcohol labelling – what does society want?
Challenges related to the actions taken
• amendments of CMO Regulation
• covers only labelling of wines
• self-regulatory actions
• covers the members of the involved associations
• voluntary labelling difficult to control
➢Finland encourages the Commission to introduce a proposal
for mandatory labelling of ingredients and mandatory
nutrition declaration, in particular the energy value, for all
alcoholic beverages
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7. Thank you
for your attention!
Questions?
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