Industry-wide agreement on consumer information
The Brewers of Europe endorsed on 12 March 2018 a joint framework with other alcoholic beverage sectors to voluntarily list ingredients and nutrition information and, through the Beer Annex to the framework, reiterated brewers’ long-standing commitment to transparency in this area, just as the European Commission, Parliament, Health Council, civil society groups and, most importantly, consumers expect.
In 2015, The Brewers of Europe committed to voluntarily listing ingredients and nutrition information, in full conformity with EU legislation, with the European Commission, other policymakers and consumer and public health NGOs welcoming the commitment.
A 2016 survey by GfK of over 9,000 adults across nine countries revealed that 86 per cent of Europeans believe alcoholic beverages should list ingredients just like other drinks, and show nutrition information per 100ml, the legal reference volume set for alcoholic beverages and already used by consumers for comparing all other drinks. Whilst two thirds of Europeans would use differing online sources to access ingredients and nutrition information for alcoholic beverages, 70 per cent still said they would use the label as a key source of information.
“The Brewers of Europe agreed with the key conclusions of the European Commission’s March 2017 alcohol labelling report, that there were no objective grounds that would justify the absence of ingredients and nutrition information for alcoholic beverages or a differentiated treatment for some alcoholic beverages”, said Pierre-Olivier Bergeron, Secretary General of The Brewers of Europe.
Today over 70 per cent of beers in the EU list ingredients on the label, whilst an estimated 40 per cent of the beers are already labelling calories, in full conformity with the EU laws and complemented by information on digital platforms, often including the full nutrition declaration.
The Beer Annex to the framework can be downloaded here: brewersofeurope
