Australians have been put in the dark primarily with kilojoules and sugar hidden in liquor, but could change quickly under the proposal to consider nutrition labeling for alcoholic beverages.
The Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) announced on Monday that it is preparing a proposal to consider including energy labels in alcoholic beverages.
Unlike most other packaged foods and beverages, packaged alcoholic beverages are exempt from providing nutritional information on the label.
This means that consumers are limited in understanding the contribution of energy that alcohol gives to the diet (measured in kilojoules or calories).
According to the National Health and Medical Research Council, alcohol is high in energy and supplies 29.3 kilojoules per gram.
Due to high energy density but lack of nutrients, Australian dietary guidelines recommend limiting alcohol intake to aid weight management.
Last year, FSANZ found a lack of consumer understanding of the energy content of beer, wine and spirits.
Analysis of 22 studies showed that only a few can correctly estimate the energy content (kilojoules or number of calories) of a drink using common knowledge.
The consumers surveyed also generally failed to correctly rank the energy content of various alcoholic beverages.
They tended to misunderstand that the energy of wine and spirits was lower than that of other liquors.
Meanwhile, according to FSANZ’s assessment of evidence last June, beer was mistakenly considered to be more energetic than other alcoholic beverages.
Labeling alcoholic beverages with energy content is not specifically regulated anywhere in the world, but some countries are developing their requirements.
In the UK, health experts sought better alcohol labeling earlier this year after an independent laboratory analyzed 30 bottles of red, white, roses, fruits and sparkling wine from the top 10 major wine brands. rice field.
The study, commissioned by the Alcohol Health Alliance UK, found that wine could contain from zero to an astonishing 59 grams of sugar per 700 ml bottle. This is the same as sitting and eating four or more ice donuts.
In contrast, the World Health Organization recommends reducing sugar intake to less than 10% of total daily energy intake. This is an average of about 12 teaspoons (50 grams) of sugar per day for adults.
The proposal to consider the alcohol energy label in Australia came after a government minister asked FSANZ to consider the issue in 2019.
FSANZ will consult the industry on this proposal this month and seek public comment later this year.
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