AHA Alcohol Labelling Failure: Why Transparency in Alcohol is Overdue
-
WINE
-
WINE
BEST SELLING WINES
ALL WINE
-
SHOP BY WINE TYPE
-
SHOP PRE-MIXED CASES
-
SHOP BY DIETARY REQUIREMENT
TRACES WINE & SPRITZ
-
-
BEER
-
BEER
ALL BEER
LOYALTY
-
The Alcohol Health Alliance UK (AHA) — a coalition of over 60 health organisations — has called on the UK government to make nutritional labelling on alcohol a legal requirement. Their findings, following an examination of 369 alcohol products at retail locations across the UK, revealed a significant transparency gap that continues to affect millions of drinkers' ability to make informed choices.
Key findings
Why this matters
All other food and drink products sold in the UK are required to display nutritional values and ingredients. Alcohol is explicitly exempt — despite the fact that alcohol accounts for nearly 10% of a drinker's daily calorie intake (RSPH). In May 2021, the government made calorie labelling mandatory on most restaurant menus to address obesity. Alcoholic drinks were again exempt.
Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, Chair of the Alcohol Health Alliance: "Alcohol's continued exemption to the rules and standards followed by the rest of the food and drinks industry is detrimental to our health. Some alcoholic drinks contain more calories than a Mars bar and others contain more than double your recommended daily sugar intake."
DrinkWell's position
DrinkWell has voluntarily displayed confirmed calories, sugar, and carbohydrate content on every product page since our launch. We believe consumers have an unconditional right to know what they're drinking. Our own laboratory research found that mainstream supermarket wines contain up to 25% more calories than their declared sugar content would predict — something that industry bodies like Drinkaware have no way of knowing from label data alone.
The AHA's campaign is right. Mandatory alcohol labelling is overdue. Until it arrives, DrinkWell will continue to provide the transparency the industry refuses to.