McClatchy : Feds seek nutrition labels on alcohol

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Feds seek nutrition labels on alcohol
By Michael Doyle | McClatchy Newspapers

* Posted on Tue, July 31, 2007

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WASHINGTON — Beer, wine and other alcoholic beverage labels would be loaded up with mandatory nutrition and alcohol-content information under a new Bush administration proposal.

For the first time, all alcohol labels would list calories, fat, protein and carbohydrates. They would include the percent of alcohol by volume. And with separate "Serving Facts" panels, alcohol labels would more closely resemble those found on other foods.

"We believe that this information should be presented to consumers in a uniform, standardized format that is prominent on the label, so that consumers may easily avail themselves of this important information," the Treasury Department said when posting its proposed rule in the Federal Register.

Beer, wine and liquor would all be covered by the new label requirements, proposed Tuesday by the Treasury Department's Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. The label proposal has been years in the making, and the fight isn't over yet.

The Beer Institute, the brewers' national lobby, has fought to keep the alcohol content labels voluntary, saying consumers already know what they need.

"The alcohol content of most beer is in a very narrow range, and consumers are generally aware of that fact," the Beer Institute stated.

Mom-and-pop vintners agree.

"I'd hate to have to do it," Leon Sobon, founder of the small, family-owned Shenandoah Vineyards in California's Amador County, said Tuesday. "I think it's completely unnecessary."

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