serving facts/allergens

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 11 in a series; to see others, click on the “serving facts” tag below. Shelton Brothers is a specialty beer importer with a focus on small batch, hand-crafted beers from around the world. Shelton’s 13-page comment strayed a bit from time to time and said:

1. Beer accounts for 51% of alcohol beverage sales.
2. TTB has wide authority to require various label statements, but constrained authority to prohibit statements. “TTB does not have the authority to restrict protected speech that does not mislead consumers [and if this rule is finalized] no language relating...

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 10 in a series; to see others, click on the “serving facts” tag below. The Brewers Association represents about 1,400 small brewers across the US. The Association’s 29-page comment said:

1. Compliance will be expensive and lead to fewer products in the market.
2. A 12 ounce serving size makes sense for normal beer, but modern brewing “allows for malt beverages to be fermented over 27% ABV” and for those over 20%, a reasonable serving size would be just 2 ounces.
3. 100% of small breweries will be affected by the proposed rule and 38% said...

The back label says CONTAINS SUCRALOSE AND ACESULFAME POTASSIUM. The front label says PREMIUM MALT BEVERAGE WITH NATURAL FLAVORS AND ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS. We think this is noteworthy due to the unabashed use of artificial sweeteners. Perhaps this marks a trend toward a much wider use of artificial sweeteners, in beverages so commonly sweetened with sugar over so many centuries. It is partly a liberalization, on the part of FDA and TTB, allowing a wider variety of sugar substitutes. It may also be due to forward-thinking companies getting way out in front of the eventual need to disclose calories and carbohydrates. IFIC says sucralose is 600 times sweeter than sugar, derived from sugar and:

can be used in place of sugar to eliminate or reduce calories in a wide variety of products. … Sucralose was discovered in 1976. … In 1998, [FDA] approved the use of sucralose in 15 food and beverage categories — the broadest initial approval ever given to a food additive.

Acesulfame Potassium, according to Wiki, is:

a calorie-free artificial sweetener, also known as Acesulfame K or Ace K (K being the symbol for potassium), and marketed under the trade names Sunett and Sweet One. … It was discovered accidentally in 1967 by German chemist Karl Clauss at Hoechst AG (now...