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Alcoholic Beverage Nutritional Labeling

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is an international leader in promoting nutrition labels on foods and beverages. It has persuasively argued that consumers have a right to know the nutritional and other contents of what they eat and drink. The Center for Science in the Public Interest has even gone to court repeatedly to defend consumers’ rights to have nutritional labeling. 1

In 2003, CSPI petitioned the US Alcohol and Tobacco and Tax Bureau (TTB) to require label information on all alcoholic beverages. It called for such things as a listing of the alcohol contents, serving size, number of calories per serving, and the ingredients (including additives) from which the beverage is made. 2

That’s a good start, but consumers also want and need information on carbohydrates, protein and fat content in what they eat and drink. However, the Center for Science in the Public Interest adamantly opposes listing such nutrients as protein and fat. CSPI argues that “because alcohol is not a food and most alcoholic beverages contain little, if any, fat or protein, those nutrients should not be listed on the new label.” 3 Unbelievably, the Center or Science in the Public Interest argues that providing nutritional information on alcoholic beverages “may even do harm.” 4

So CSPI insists that consumers have a right to know the nutritional content of what they eat and drink, except for alcoholic beverages! The real reason the group doesn’t want nutritional information on such beverages is that they compare so favorably to non-alcoholic beverages.

A Nutritional Comparison of Alcoholic and Non-alcoholic Beverages
  Calories Carbs (g) Fat (g)
Alcoholic Beverages 97.2 3.6 .00
Non-Alcoholic Beverages 124.9 29.2 .58

In reality alcoholic beverages tend to have, for example:

As the following list demonstrates, the actual contents of different beverages vary widely. Therefore, it’s absolutely essential that consumers have specific nutritional information on all beverage labels for easy comparison.

Calories, carbohydrates, fat and protein found in standard servings of both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.
Alcoholic Beverages Calories Carbs (g) Fat (g)
Beer (regular) 146 10.72 .000
Beer (lite) 99 5.17 .000
Distilled Spirits (rum, vodka, whiskey, gin, tequila, bourbon, etc.) 97 0.00 .000
Wine (red) 74 1.75 .000
Wine (white) 70 0.82 .000
Non-Alcoholic Beverages Calories Carbs (g) Fat (g)
Apple juice (unsweetened) 117 28.96 .273
Apricot juice 140 36.11 .226
Carbonated cola 155 39.77 .000
Grape juice (unsweetened) 155 37.84 .202
Grapefruit juice (unsweetened) 94 22.13 .247
Lemonade 131 34.05 .149
Milk (2% fat) 122 11.41 4.807
Orange juice (unsweetened) 112 26.84 .149
Prune juice 182 44.67 .077
Tangerine juice (unsweetened) 125 29.88 .098
Tomato juice 41 10.30 .122
  • Source: United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Nutrient Data Laboratory. USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 16-1 and 17. Available at www.nal.usda.gov/.

Consumers want and need nutritional label information on the calories, carbs, protein and fat contained in what they eat and drink, with no exceptions.

 

References
  1. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. Labeling and Advertising of Wines, Distilled Spirits and Malt Beverages; Request for Public Comment. Federal Register, 2005 (April 29), 70(82), 22274-22283.
  2. Center for Science and the Public interest and the National Consumers Union. Petition to Improve Mandatory Labeling Information on Alcoholic Beverages (‘Alcohol Facts’),” Dec. 16, 2003. Alcohol Policies Project section of Center for Science in the Public web site.
  3. Center for Science in the Public Interest. TTB Voluntary Labeling (August, 2004) . Alcohol Policies Project section of Center for Science in the Public web site.
  4. Center for Science in the Public Interest. Talking Points and Discussion for Responding to TTB’s Request for Comments on Alcohol Labeling Issues. Alcohol Policies Project section of Center for Science in the Public web site. CSPI argues that listing fat content could “open the door to meaningless ‘no fat’ claims for alcoholic beverages.” Of course it’s not meaningless to claim that beer, wine and distilled spirits contain no fat because that’s an important nutritional fact. And it wouldn’t be deceptive or misleading because beer, wine and spirits are completely fat-free.

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