Clarification on Alcohol Labelling Guidelines
Posted on Fri 21st Aug 2015 at 12:38
The recent publication of new medical guidelines, stating that no amount of alcohol was safe to drink and replacing the previous limits of 14 weekly units for women and 21 for men, has been met by justified outrage from the industry.
Having been given no opportunity to consult on the guidelines before they were published, the Wine and Sprits Trade Association (WSTA) have been doing sterling work on getting the government to clarify the guidelines and reassure the industry on what happens to their old labelling. Thanks to their lobbying of the Departments of Health, Business and Environment, the Food Standards Agency has now issued the following clarification: "It is requested that no action is taken against manufacturers or retailers who continue to provide the old CMO advice as voluntary information on pre-packaged alcoholic beverages until a) final wording for the guidelines has been agreed following completion of the consultation; and b) agreement has been reached on timescales." The WTSA also commented that "we also continue to work on the concerns around the evidence behind the guidance and will be consulting with members shortly over our response to the official consultation. We will also be working across the trade to consider potential changes to wording or formats of labels following the consultation". Many members of our industry will be very reassured by these development and we keep our fingers crossed that the government might eventually see sense on their unfair and unjustified guidelines. Congratulations to all at the WSTA for all that they've achieved so far!