Robert C. Lehrman

It is likely that all beer, wine and spirits labels will change dramatically in the near future. TTB has been working on new rules since CSPI and other groups submitted a petition in 2003. The new rules would require a “Serving Facts” panel on every container. This panel would include a lot more information, such as the typical serving size, number of servings per container, calories, carbohydrates, protein and fat. Because this is a big, controversial change, TTB has received more than 18,000 public comments during the past few years. There are far too many comments for most people to review, and so we will highlight and summarize the most noteworthy comments here. The most recent proposal and comments are here. This is comment 8 in a series; to see others, click on the “serving facts” tag below.
Wine Institute is the trade association of over 1,000 California wineries and affiliated businesses. Wine Institute’s 34-page comment said:

1. Serving facts should not be required. 20 years after putting similar information on food labels, at a cost of about $2 billion, Americans are more obese than ever.
2. Some comments link the US Dietary Guidelines with a “standard drink.” This is inappropriate because the term has never appeared in any edition of the Guidelines.
3. The 18,000 or so form-generated comments, in response to the advance notice, should carry little weight.  They lack credibily and sincerity.
4. TTB should maintain the allowance for some wines to refer to “table wine” rather than requiring a more precise alcohol by volume statement “across the board.” The more flexible rule saves wineries money by allowing them to print labels well in advance.
5. The 5 ounce serving size for wine should apply to wines up to 16%, rather than 14%.
6. TTB should allow “typical values” rather than lot-by-lot analytical values; there is very little gap. Testing every type could cost a medium-sized winery $125,000 per year. This would impose a severe and much higher burden on the wine industry, compared to beer and spirits, because wine is “inherently variable in composition.” Lot-by-lot testing would also lead to substantial delays, as winemakers attempt to twist the blend to conform to the label.
7. A three year phase in is helpful but by no means removes the costs. The serving facts panel is likely to require larger labels (about 40% larger). Larger labels could add 0.5 to 1 cent per bottle in label costs alone. A linear format would help and should be allowed.

Former Senator George McGovern is 86 years old and he’s still slugging away. In the video above, he is urging TTB to mandate calorie and carbohydrate-type serving facts on every beer, wine and spirits label, forthwith. He said:

It’s time for the federal government to issue a regulation that will be useful and … list complete information about the amount of alcohol and calories contained in the drinks we are consuming. … It looks like the government is trying to keep that a secret.

Mr. McGovern has been closely connected to this issue for more than thirty years. His daughter died of acute intoxication in 1994. This 2001 Congressional Research Service Report explains that Mr. McGovern has been pressing for wider nutrition labeling since the 1970s:

The most comprehensive bills for mandated nutrition labeling for most packaged foods and meat products were introduced in the late 1970s by Senator McGovern and Congressman Richmond. Most bills took a more limited approach to mandatory labeling; i.e., sodium labeling. These labeling bills received little attention, and none was enacted. In considering these bills, Congress faced the same dilemma as the agencies. The science was slowly evolving, but there was still inadequate evidence on the relationship of nutrients to chronic disease to require the nutrient content listing proposed to be displayed on packages, and to justify placing this regulatory burden on the food industry in order to provide consumers with additional information.

The consumer groups have been energetically pushing this agenda for many decades, and it’s hard to watch this clip and doubt their resolve to make this happen.