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The largest beer industry association in the United States announced Tuesday that it will encourage its members to display caloric and nutritional information on their products, packaging or websites. The Beer Institute (BI) says its Brewers’ Voluntary Disclosure Initiative has the support of major member companies that together produce 81% of the volume of U.S.-sold beer.
In a statement, the BI said: "Participating brewers and importers will voluntarily list calories, carbohydrates, protein, fat and alcohol by volume on their beer products by including a serving facts statement consistent with the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Trade Bureau (TTB) ruling 2013-2. In addition, they will provide freshness dating, and disclose ingredients via a list, a reference to a website with the information, or a QR code on the label or secondary packaging.”
According to the BI, Anheuser-Busch, MillerCoors, HeinekenUSA,
The initiative will likely serve as a turning point for alcohol labeling in this country. As I reported last month,
The association is pushing its members to come into full labeling compliance by 2020. The BI reports that according to a recent study, 72% of beer drinkers consider it important to read nutritional labels when buying food and drink. However, the regulations can be burdensome to smaller beverage producers, who don’t necessarily have the equipment or money to test every batch, especially when they so often tweak recipes, produce “one-off” variations and make limited releases. So for now, the “voluntary” nature of labeling prevails.