The Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) is expected to consider the proposals in late 2024 or early 2025. This comes after the completion of public consultations on the alcohol labelling proposals.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Sugar and carbohydrate content
The New Zealand Food and Grocery Council (NZFGC) is supportive of including sugar content for alcoholic beverages with more than 1.15% ABV.
This is because it allows producers to make accurate statements about the level of sugar and carbohydrates in their products, which will provide useful and transparent information to consumers.
Furthermore, drinkers want the option of no or low sugar and carbohydrate products – they want to see this type of accurate and transparent information displayed on the label, according to Asahi.
“We continue to reject the assertions that alcohol products which make accurate statements about sugar and carbohydrate content are confusing drinkers. Quite the opposite, we are aware that drinkers are sophisticated in their buying decisions and that no and low sugar and carbohydrate products allow them to drink a product that fits in with their dietary preferences.
“The prevalence of no or low sugar and carbohydrate claims on our products continues to increase because consumers are demanding products, which have no or low sugar and carbohydrates. Preventing consumers having clear information on packaging about products that have no or low sugar or carbohydrates would run counter to consumer demands for more information and transparency about the products they consume,” said Asahi.
Energy labelling
FSANZ found that consumers are generally unaware that alcohol is the main source of energy in wine, beer, and spirits. Rather, one available New Zealand-based study found that consumers tended to believe that sugar was the main source of energy in these beverages. The overall finding is that consumers are generally unable to correctly estimate the energy content – i.e. number of kilojoules or calories – in alcoholic beverages.
Therefore, it maintains that a mandatory approach for the provision of energy content information on alcoholic beverages would ensure greater coverage and consistency for consumers to make informed choices.
For the declaration of energy content information, the NZFGC and The George Institute do not support the use of ‘Nutrition Information’. This is because alcohol is not generally consumed for its nutrition – there are varying views on its health benefits, but these are related more to health effects rather than nutrition.
The George Institute prefers the use of ‘Energy Information Panel’ instead.
It also supports the declaration of energy per 100ml. However, it does not support the terms ‘serve’ and ‘serving’ being used anywhere on alcohol packages due to the potential for this to generate a health halo for alcohol products. This is because there may be an added complication of consumers becoming confused about the difference between a standard drink and a serving.
“These can be endorsing alcohol consumption when there is no safe intake level. There is evidence from the food domain that consumers find serving sizes difficult to understand and apply. Instead, studies suggest that the addition of a second column presenting nutrient and calorie information for an entire package, rather than per serving, might be more helpful for the consumer.
“Energy per container for beverages consumed in a single sitting is likely to be a useful addition, however, The George Institute recommends consumer testing is conducted to ensure consumers interpret this information correctly.”
Additionally, the NZFGC recommends considering an option that allows energy content information to be presented in a way that includes the necessary details without adhering to a strict format. This approach would enable imported products to comply with mandatory labelling requirements, even if their format differs slightly.
Currently, imported packaged foods often face technical issues with mandated formatting, leading to frequent non-compliance. Mandating a specific format would only continue these recurring problems.
As for spirits, NZFGC said that a lesser declaration than 100 mL – the generally agreed serving of spirits as being 30mL – would be more sensible for spirits and more aligned with safe drinking recommendations.
However, the George Institute does not support energy content information on spirits be declared as per serve (30mL) basis only.
“The 100ml information is required to enable consumers to compare across products. The terms ‘serve’ and ‘servings’ should appear nowhere on alcohol products as this may encourage consumption of alcoholic beverages,” it said.
Benefits of upcoming changes
The Food Ministers’ Meeting (FMM) raised concerns about sugar claims on alcoholic beverages. Specifically, it said that sugar-free claims are misleading, and that alcohol is promoted as a healthier choice when public health advice is to limit alcohol intake.
It also stated that consumers’ ability to understand the energy contribution that alcohol makes to their diet is severely limited, as alcoholic beverages are exempt from providing nutrition information on the label.
Research evidence similarly indicates consumers generally have a poor understanding of the energy content of alcoholic beverages and do not understand alcohol is the main source of energy in most alcoholic beverages. They do however generally value energy content information on the label of alcoholic beverages.
Updates to the alcohol labelling will therefore help consumers best understand the information and make informed choices, said FSANZ.
Previously, FSANZ had initiated an upgrade for voluntary alcoholic beverage labelling standards. Work was paused while FSANZ undertook preliminary work on energy labelling of alcoholic beverages. It recommenced in April 2022 and public consultations ended in 20 March 2023.
