At a plenary vote to update the 2008 EU Spirits Regulation, Socialists and Democrats called for an end to the exemption of spirit drinks from the Food Information Regulation, so that they are also properly labelled in terms of ingredients and nutritional values.

 

In the updated regulation, the European Commission had tried to open the door to changing the definition of what constitutes certain drinks like rum, whisky or vodka, but the Parliament rejected giving that competence to the Commission.

 

 

“Consumers can trust that anything labelled as rum, whisky or vodka in the EU is exactly as they would expect it to be. This will not be changed without the full involvement of the European Parliament and EU governments.  

 

“We want to see the ingredients and nutritional values of alcohol explicitly indicated on the label, just like they are for all other food and drink. The S&D Group will continue pushing for this.”

 

 

“We want to see nutritional labelling on spirit drinks because consumers have the right to be informed about the nutritional content of spirits.  We will be closely following the alcohol industry's suggestions for voluntary labelling, which are due in the next few weeks, as well as how the Commission responds to them.

 

“I'm convinced that informed consumers can make better choices and ultimately consumers have the right to know what is in the products they buy.”