Dive Brief:
- The Beer Institute launched the Brewers' Voluntary Disclosure Initiative Tuesday to encourage to disclosure of caloric and nutrition information on all products, packaging and websites.
- This would include a serving facts statement with information on calories, carbohydrates, protein, fat and alcohol by volume that is consistent with Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Trade Bureau guidelines. Manufacturers would also disclose ingredients on either the label or secondary packaging with a list, a website, or a smartphone-scannable QR code. Packaging would also contain freshness dating via "born on" or "best by" date codes.
- Anheuser-Busch, MillerCoors, HeinekenUSA, Constellation Brands Beer Division, North American Breweries and Craft Brew Alliance have already committed to the voluntary disclosure agreement. Together, they produce more than 81% of beer sold in the U.S.
Dive Insight:
With well over three-quarters of U.S. beer volumes being committed to the voluntary disclosure initiative by many of the major brewers in the country, the pressure to join in will be on the rest of the Beer Institute's 44 brewer and importer members and the more than 4,000 non-member craft breweries.
This movement for more transparency in the beer industry comes as Congress is voting on whether to pass the latest iteration of a national GMO labeling standard. The GMO labeling bill in Congress wouldn't impact alcoholic beverage producers, which are not required to disclose the same information on their labels as packaged foods and other beverages.
But another key reason this push is happening now is to help restaurants and foodservice establishments prepare for the FDA's new menu labeling rules, which go into effect next year.
Craft Brew Alliance CEO Andy Thomas told Brewbound that he believes the move demonstrates how the beer industry can come together to "preempt government regulation by self-regulating."
Diageo made a similar move toward increased transparency last October by making its Crown Royal the first alcohol brand shipped in the U.S. that featured nutritional information on the product's packaging. In March 2015, Diageo announced that it would begin posting nutritional information either on its products' packaging and on its responsible drinking website drinkiq.com.
A recent suvey conducted by Nielsen, The Harris Poll, and Brewbound found that nutritional transparency — including for beer products — is important to 78% of craft beer drinkers versus 65% of all alcoholic beverage drinkers.
However, brewers will now have to monitor how beer drinkers react once they know how many calories and other nutrients are in each individual beer — the same concerns packaged food and other beverage manufacturers have about the FDA's recently announced updates to the Nutrition Facts panel.