Labelling changes?

A report prepared by an independent panel, commissioned by the Australian & New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council, recommends that all alcoholic beverages should carry labels warning pregnant women of the risks of drinking alcohol and also that labels should have details of the relevant energy contents. These recommendations to the Federal Government are amongst more than 60 presented by the Blewett panel. Brewer Lion Nathan, with a market share of 43 percent, promptly announced on 28 January 2011 that it would voluntarily print a warning on its labels to caution pregnant women against the dangers of alcohol to unborn babies. It also agreed to start using a generic warning message, which the labelling review has suggested might be “Alcohol can damage your health”, or “Drinking to excess is a danger to yourself and those around you”.

Beer market leader, The Foster’s Group, has no immediate plans to follow the lead of rival Lion Nathan by adopting consumer health messages on its labels. Though it supports labelling reform, it remains unconvinced about the effectiveness of product health warnings.

On the other hand, winemakers (via Winemakers Federation of Australia) oppose outright the changes which were recommended by former Health Minister Neal Blewett. They included a health warning, a kilojoule count and a full list of ingredients.

“I think we need a little common sense here”, Winemakers Federation chief executive Stephen Strachan reportedly said.

“Consumers choose their wine for enjoyment. I have never heard of a visitor to a cellar door asking what a wine’s salt content is or how many carbohydrates it contains.”

The man is right.