The market for alcoholic drinks has continued to see major growth, making it an exciting time to launch a new range of alcoholic beverages or expand your existing range. As with all food and beverage products, alcohol products are subject to strict food labelling regulations and have a unique set of alcohol labelling regulations that must be followed. One element that can be confusing relates to the labelling of the volume/unit of alcohol – in this blog, Ashbury experts break this down for you.
Under the Food Information to Consumers Regulation (EU) 1169/2011, drinks containing more than 1.2% alcohol by volume (ABV) must declare the actual volume, displayed in the same field of vision as the name and net quantity of the food.
The volume of alcohol must be accurate and displayed to one decimal place. For example, it’s +/- 0.5% for beer and wine with a strength of up to 5.5% volume, or +/-1% for beer and wine with a strength greater than 5.5% volume. In the case of beverages containing macerated fruits or plants, it’s +/-1.5% and +/-0.3% accuracy for all other alcoholic beverages.
Whilst alcoholic strength is required to be declared on product labels, the number of units of alcohol and health warnings are not compulsory. They are, however, recommended widely by government and organisations such as Drinkaware and The Portman Group.
They are also widely adopted by food business operators and in a 2021 review of 400 alcohol labels, independent assessors for The Portman Group found most carried an array of voluntary information, including 94% declaring the number of alcohol units per container, 47% including an energy declaration, and 93% choosing to include a reference to the alcohol education charity, Drinkaware, or choosing to carry a responsibility message. The Portman Group offers a free marketing toolkit on its website to help understand how to display voluntary information.
Depending on the volume of the alcohol, different classifications exist. In the UK, anything with an abv of 1.2% and below is considered “low alcohol” and can be marketed as such, if there is no more than 0.05% abv, it is considered “no alcohol”. Different categories of alcohol must also meet certain volume limits – for example an Irish Cream must contain 15% volume to marketed this way.
It is important to remember that different markets set different limits for alcohol volume which will impact how you label your products. Do you research to ensure your label is adapted according to local rules.
There is no doubt that food labelling regulations are confusing and can feel like a bump in the road to launching your products. However, the right expertise can help you tackle regulatory requirements while remaining competitive in your marketing and product positioning. If you are looking to launch an alcoholic, or low alcohol product into global markets, our experts are here to help. Get in touch.
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