Dive Brief:
- Alcoholic beverage manufacturers have teamed up to fund a group organized to fight back against the U.K.’s recently updated alcohol guidelines, which recommend the same limits on men’s and women’s alcohol consumption, according to multiple sources.
- The recommendations also claim that no safe level of drinking exists, which the group feels has made the country’s alcohol debate “increasingly imbalanced and characterized by poor representation of the evidence,” the partnership’s director-general Dave Roberts told The Wall Street Journal.
- Funding members of the Alcohol Information Partnership include Diageo, Pernod Ricard, Bacardi, Brown-Forman, Moët Hennessy, Rémy Cointreau, Davide Campari-Milano and Beam Suntory.
Dive Insight:
The group’s sole responsibility is to maintain balance in the UK’s alcohol debate. That includes critiquing research the companies believe is unfairly skewed against alcoholic beverages and uncovering any beneficial changes to consumers’ drinking habits as they turn up in government data.
But according to The Wall Street Journal report, the group won’t publish any research itself. This protects the companies against accusations of bias. Consumers and public health advocates have targeted many companies and industry trade groups in recent years that have released ingredient or nutrition-related research with results that appear skewed for various reasons.
That said, it’s unlikely this type of group could exist in the U.S., even if federal agencies were to pass similar recommendations—as they recently have for sugar consumption. Industry bias is a careful issue for companies to work around, especially with vocal U.S. consumers who take to blogs and social media to express their opinions about food and beverage brands.
The U.K. recommends the guidelines are included in on-package labels, which is voluntary but commonplace. Consumers increasingly demand transparency from companies, and companies have participated in efforts like the Brewers' Voluntary Disclosure Initiative in the United States.