Labelling
Government research has shown that only 3% of alcohol products display all elements of a responsible label.
Current legislation means that consumers are often given more content and health information if they drink a non-alcoholic beer such as Kaliber than if they drink a standard beer. Alcohol Concern believes that this disparity is totally at odds with the harms alcohol causes to individuals, families and communities. It is also at odds with the government's own agenda of promoting choice and providing information so that individuals can make healthy decisions about their lifestyles.
The public has a right to know how much they are drinking and what levels of consumption are safe. A 2009 survey by Alcohol Concern found that 94.5% of 1,088 respondents agreed that prominent information about the total units per drink of alcohol should be displayed wherever alcohol is sold.
Alcohol Concern's report 'Message on a bottle' found that only 28 out of the 50 promoted products we looked at had unit information on the labels (56%). Equally as worrying, only nine out of the 50 promoted products displayed sensible drinking levels on the labels (18%). The report also found that 95% of supermarkets' own brand alcohol products had unit labelling but only 44% displayed sensible drinking levels. This clearly shows that supermarkets are aware that they have a responsibility to provide consumers with information yet their practice in promoting poorly labelled products is contrary to this knowledge.
Consumers need information to make healthy choices about their consumption and supermarkets need to be more responsible in the way they promote alcohol. Drinks producers have failed to comply with the voluntary agreement they made with the government to improve their labelling. Government must now take firm action to help consumers understand how much alcohol is in what they are drinking and what the health consequences are if they drink too much.
Alcohol Concern has called for government to introduce mandatory labelling on all alcohol products through the Food Safety Act (1990). In addition we believe that all premises that sell alcohol should display clear information about sensible drinking levels and appropriate health warnings.
To find out more please read our report: Message on a bottle: does the public have enough information about what they are drinking?
New consultation launched
Following a new review of industry compliance the Department of Health launched a UK-wide consultation to consider how best to improve unit and health information for consumers on alcohol labels, whether through a renewed and strengthened voluntary agreement or a mandatory requirement through legislation under the Food Safety Act. The consultation ran until 9 May 2010.
The government consulted on three options - "do nothing", "self regulation" and "mandatory labelling". With the current system of self regulation only leading to 15% of products having adequate information Alcohol Concern continues to support mandatory labelling of all alcohol products.
The latest monitoring compliance data can be found here: Stage 2 Alcohol Labelling Review
Consultation response
Alcohol Concern contributed to the drafting of a joint response to this consultation submitted by the Alcohol Health Alliance.
Results of the consultation will be published later in the year.