legally interesting/controversial

This French Apple Cider provides a small taste of what is coming soon. It is our understanding that TTB has no plans to require or encourage ingredient labeling, such as that on the back label here. But TTB does have big plans to require Serving Facts Labeling (similar to this Nutrition Facts labeling) someday very soon. It’s a big, important change. There is a lot of data on this back label; much of it will be required in a few years and almost none of it would have been required 20 years ago. The Government Warning arrived 20 years ago and redemption labeling (as well as the UPC) started appearing a few decades ago. This COLA is unusual because FDA (not TTB) typically has authority over wines under 7% alc./vol. (such as this cider). But here the importer noted (at box 19) “submitting for review of health warning.” TTB retains control over the Warning and the wine tax, even in those instances where general labeling jurisdiction shifts over to FDA. Some time after approval, TTB apparently decided to hand this back to FDA, as the current status of this approval is “surrendered.”

TTB frequently says vintage dates are not allowed on spirits. The rationale is:  subtle vintage characteristics do not survive distillation, and it is usually misleading to suggest otherwise. This bourbon label shows a prominent date, but seems to refrain from using the “vintage” term. The back label explains that 1792 is the year when Kentucky became the 15th state. The ad is from the October 24, 2008 Wall Street Journal.

It seems like TTB has eased up on various issues in recent years, and we will try to show this trend in the weeks to come. But there are still plenty of areas where TTB is quite strict. For example, good luck if you want to talk about vitamins or beneficial effects. TTB is also quite strict about the little lady above. She’s not allowed in the US. The blue label is a non-US label. By contrast, on the white label, TTB insisted that the importer obliterate the logo. TTB said: “When new labels are printed, the pregnancy logo must not appear on label and can not appear marked-out with a black marker.”

“We do prohibit the French (or any other country’s) government health warning,” Arthur H. Resnick, spokesman for the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau said in an e-mail. “We feel that consumers are likely to be confused and possibly misled by a proliferation of government warnings.”

From The Washington Post