Beer Companies Pledge Transparency Over Nutritional Content By Signing Up To New Label Disclosure Initiative

An Anheuser-Busch spokesperson told FoodIngredientsFirst: "Anheuser-Busch has voluntarily provided significant information about our beers, the ingredients and nutritional content at www.tapintoyourbeer.com, which has been available since December 2012. We have posted the ingredients for more than 60 US brands, including Budweiser and Bud Light. We believe posting the ingredients online is a good step since it responds to the desires of our US consumers."

 

They added: "We focus on directing consumers to TapIntoYourBeer.com for nutritional facts and ingredients information about our beers. Thirty of our brands currently list www.tapintoyourbeer.com on can and bottle labels or on packaging, which reflects approximately half of our core brands. TapIntoYourBeer.com continues to be added to brand labels through a phased process, and we’ve already begun work to bring our craft brands in line with what we currently disclose for our core brands."
 
"The Brewers’ Voluntary Disclosure Initiative reflects U.S. consumers’ increasing interest in knowing more about the products they enjoy. As a U.S. brewer and Beer Institute member, we are fully supportive of this initiative and already provide significant information about our beers at www.tapintoyourbeer.com."
 
"We will consider consumer interests as they evolve and will continue to find ways to share information with consumers in ways that are most meaningful to them, and depending on our capabilities and local regulatory requirements," they said.

 

Industry lobbying group, the Beer Institute officially has launched the Brewers’ Voluntary Disclosure Initiative as an important new approach to encourage beer companies to include a serving facts statement on their products, as well as list ingredients either on the label, secondary packaging or reference a website with the information or through a QR code. 

 

“The Beer Institute, and its member companies, believes this is a step in the right direction to demonstrate a commitment to quality and transparency through these voluntary measures,” says president and CEO Jim McGreevy.

 

“Beer is the most popular alcohol beverage in the United States, and I look forward to brewers and importers including a serving facts statement along with disclosing all ingredients in their products.”

 

“Providing meaningful information will ultimately empower the consumer when making decisions regarding the beer beverage of their choice.”

 

Beer drinkers are more and more interested in knowing about the protein, fat and carbohydrate content of the alcohol they drink, according to a recent survey which states 72 percent of beer drinkers think it is important to read nutritional labels when buying food and beverages.

 

“I applaud the Beer Institute for encouraging its members to include valuable consumer information through a serving facts statement and list of ingredients,” says former Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tommy Thompson.

 

“American consumers are more informed than ever, and they want to know about the food and beverages that they are eating and drinking.”

 

“The Beer Institute and the companies that have chosen to participate in the Brewers’ Voluntary Disclosure Initiative are providing real leadership in the alcohol beverage industry by voluntarily providing this information.”

 

Consumers should begin to see the impact of the initiative immediately across the US market, as many members currently provide some nutritional facts and ingredients information.

 

However, those brewers officially signed up are being encouraged to achieve compliance across their product lines by the end of 2020.

 

A statement from Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) president Michael F. Jacobson, welcomes the labeling move, and urges other liquor companies to operate similar programs.

 

He also stresses the importance of full transparency by actually labeling nutritional ingredients on products and not just directing consumers online to investigate for themselves.

 

“Alcohol can be a major source of calories for many Americans, and the absence of calorie labeling on cans and bottles has helped obscure that,” he says.

 

“It’s good news for consumers that the biggest brewers will begin disclosing calories and some other nutritional information on new labels. All wine and liquor producers should do something similar.”

 

“However, consumers have as much right to know what’s in their beer as in their root beer. Brewers are allowed to artificially color, flavor, sweeten, and preserve their products, as well as use foam enhancers. If the industry takes prices in its ingredients it should list them on labels and not simple on the Web.”