According to msnbc.com, the Federal Tax and Trade Bureau has proposed a bill to have nutrition labels on all alcoholic beverages.
While Diageo, the world’s leading distilled spirits, beer and wine company, supports this piece of legislation, other people in the industry are not pleased with this proposal. At the Beer Institute in Washington D.C., officials support the idea of nutritional labels listing calories, carbohydrates, alcohol by volume, etc. However, they do not support defining serving size by fluid ounces of alcohol, because you may get more liquor in your cocktail than the serving size, depending on the bartender and what else is in the drink.
The Wine Institute is asking for accommodations, such as being able to generalize the calorie and carbohydrate counts on wine rather than going through each vintage and giving the individual counts. They also want the option of choosing the style of the label.
Food activist Marion Nestle doesn’t see the point of listing the fat and carbohydrate content, since it contains little or none of these, but likes the idea of listing the amount of alcohol, calories, and servings in the bottle and ingredients.
“Alcohol has calories and calories are an enormous issue,” she said.
