Proposed Rule Would Require Mandatory Labeling on Alcoholic Beverages for Big 9 Food Allergens
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The U.S. Treasury Department’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) has proposed a rule that would require mandatory allergen labeling for wine, spirits, and malt beverages. At present, the Federal Alcohol Administration Act (FAA) does not require mandatory allergen labeling for the nine major food allergens identified in U.S. law.
Specifically, the proposed rule would require a labeling disclosure of all major food allergens used in the production of alcohol beverages subject to TTB's regulatory authority under FFA. Under the proposed regulations, unless an exception applies, labels must declare milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, wheat, peanuts, soybeans, and sesame, as well as ingredients that contain protein derived from these foods, if used in the production of the alcohol beverage. TTB proposes a compliance date of five years from the date that a final rule resulting from the proposal is published in the Federal Register.
The proposed rule is open for comment until April 17, 2025.
TTB proposed the new rule following a 2021 letter signed by several consumer groups and public health advocates, including the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and the Consumer Federation of America, urging the Secretary of the Treasury to adopt regulations to mandate a standardized label that would list, among other things, any major food allergens present in the product and an ingredient declaration using ingredients’ common or usual names. Additionally, in 2022, the Department of the Treasury, in consultation with the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, released a report, which found that “regulatory proposals that could serve public health and foster competition by providing information to consumers, such as mandatory allergen, nutrition, and ingredient labeling proposals, have not been implemented,” and recommended that TTB “revive or initiate rulemaking proposing ingredient labeling and mandatory information.”
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