Navigating alcoholic beverage labelling: Leatherhead’s Regulatory Insight Report

Alcoholic beverage labels are essential in helping consumers understand the different factors typically associated with this type of beverage, such as calories, health warnings and alcohol content among others. Food business operators (FBOs) must adhere to the specific labelling regulations in different markets; however they often struggle to understand the similarities and differences between the requirements to ensure overall compliance.

Leatherhead Food Research’s recently-released Regulatory Insight Report aims to bridge this knowledge gap. Exclusively available to members, “Alcohol Beverage Labelling” provides a comprehensive overview of labelling requirements across 35+ markets, allowing you to navigate potential barriers and challenges with ease.

Leatherhead’s regulatory experts analyzed labelling elements globally such as ingredients list, nutrition information, warning statements and logos, and alcohol declaration, and have distilled the information into easy-to-digest summary slides. Details about upcoming changes also provide essential compliance insights.

Read on to learn a few key highlights from the report.

Ingredient list

Alcoholic beverages are often exempt from ingredient declaration, as is the case for Colombia and the UK. However, some markets have exceptions. For example, in the EU, wines need to carry an ingredient list; several EU Member States such as Austria, Germany, and Portugal have also added beer to the list of products requiring mandatory ingredient listing. In Canada, unstandardised alcoholic beverages require ingredient listings.

Nutrition information

Nutrition information can often be complex. While some markets may only require minimal details, such as energy labelling, others completely prohibit it, believing it could cause confusion about the product’s overall nutritional value. Additionally, in markets where nutritional information is mandated, it may be required only for specific beverages and not for all alcoholic drinks. For example, in Chile and Israel, all alcoholic beverages require an energy declaration. In the US, all nutritional information is mandated but only for FDA-regulated products.

Health warnings and logos

Since 1980, several Latin American countries have mandated that alcoholic beverages carry warning statements, such as “Excessive alcohol consumption is harmful to health” or similar. However, some international markets have introduced more specific warning statements. For example, in South Africa and Moldova, the focus is on addiction, while in South Korea and Ireland, the emphasis is on the link to cancer.

Upcoming changes

Some of the recently established, evolving, and emerging regulations highlighted in the report include Ecuador’s discussion on introducing Front-of-Pack Nutrition Labelling (FOPNL) and warning logos for certain alcoholic beverages, and Australia considering energy labelling on alcoholic beverages.

Get your copy of the report

If you’re interested in receiving a copy of Regulatory Insight Report “Alcoholic Beverage Labelling”, why not join Leatherhead Food Research as a member and unlock a host of benefits? In addition to gaining exclusive access to our Regulatory Insight Reports, membership offers a suite of invaluable resources:

• Multilingual regulatory support in over 150 countries through our Member Helpline
• Weekly Global Legal Highlights newsletter, keeping you up-to-date on regulatory developments worldwide
• Twice-a-week Food News, offering a snapshot of scientific, regulatory and commercial intelligence in the food and beverage industry
• White papers and webinars delving into hot topics, providing a blend of regulatory and scientific perspectives
• Other Regulatory Insight Reports – providing global horizon-scanning on specific regulatory topics, such as front of pack nutrition labelling and precision fermentation
• Annual Members’ Day – an exclusive update on evolving regulations
• Annual Regulatory Trends Report

If you’d like to discuss the report in more detail or are ready to explore membership options, please connect with us at [email protected].