Brussels, 28 September 2017. The Brewers of Europe are successfully implementing their voluntary commitment to list ingredients and provide comparable nutrition information, calling on other sectors to follow their lead in view of the alcohol industry proposal due in March next year.

In March 2015, The Brewers of Europe announced a major voluntary move from brewers across Europe to list ingredients and nutrition information on their brands per 100ml, in line with the legal requirements for all non-alcoholic drinks, including non-alcoholic beer. This landmark commitment builds on the European Beer Pledge, a voluntary initiative by brewers across Europe to support EU Member States in reducing alcohol related harm.

The latest progress was announced today by Pierre-Olivier Bergeron, Secretary General of The Brewers of Europe, at a Eurocare event hosted by MEP Jytte Guteland in the European Parliament. Bergeron said, “with regards to ingredients, we are ahead of our target and now estimate that over 70% of pre-packed beer in the EU is labelling its ingredients”. He added, “around a third of pre-packed beer now labels calories”.

At EU level alcoholic beverages are part of the Food Information Regulation, covered by the rules in relation to font sizes and labelling items such as alcohol content and allergens. However, there are exemptions with regard to ingredients listing and nutrition declarations when it comes to alcoholic beverages over 1.2% ABV.

Speaking to a packed room, the EU’s Health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis, repeated the main conclusion from the Commission’s 2015 report on alcohol labelling that “the Commission has not identified objective grounds that would justify the absence of information on ingredients and nutrition information on alcoholic beverages or a differentiated treatment for some alcoholic beverages” and stated that now is the time to find solutions not just continue discussions.

‘’People have a right to know what is really in the products they buy. The EU legal framework must ensure that consumers can make truly informed and easily comparable choices for all alcoholic beverages, just as they can for other products. Therefore, we should close the current loophole in the Food Information to Consumers regulation so that the nutrition content in all alcoholic beverages is provided per 100ml” said MEP Jytte Guteland, who hosted today’s event.

In March 2017, the European Commission gave alcohol producers until March 2018 to deliver a self-regulatory proposal that would respond to consumers’ expectations and cover the entire sector of alcoholic beverages. The Brewers of Europe will continue to work with other sectors following the Commission’s call to develop a voluntary solution. We encourage other sectors to follow our lead whilst simultaneously continuing to deliver against our own commitment, as it is clear that consumers can only be empowered to take informed decisions on how different foods and beverages fit within their diet and lifestyle if there is a level playing field of comparable information.

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Contact: Jan de Grave, Communications Director, +32 (0)2 551 1810 or jdg@brewersofeurope.org

About us: Based in Brussels, The Brewers of Europe brings together national brewers’ associations from 29 European countries and provides a voice to support the united interests of Europe’s 7,500+ breweries. The Brewers of Europe promotes the positive role played by beer and the brewing sector in Europe and advocates the creation of the right conditions to allow brewers to continue to freely, cost-effectively and responsibly brew and market beer across Europe. Follow us on Twitter and visit our website.