US public interest groups - Center for Science in the Public Interest, Consumer Federation of America, National Consumers League and Shape Up America! - have proposed Treasury Department to finalize the rules for standardizing the alcoholic beverages labels with alcohol content and calorie information in 2013.
In a letter to Treasury Department secretary-designate Jack Lew, the public interest groups used a new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) rule to force the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) to issue final rules for comprehensive labeling on all beer, wine and distilled spirits products.
The groups mainly want the labels to include information regarding serving size, calories per serving, fluid ounces of alcohol per serving, ABV percent, definition of standard drink, number of drinks per container and the dietary guidelines recommendation on moderate drinking.
According to the joint letter, "The need to modernize alcohol beverage labels so that consumers can better understand how much alcohol they are consuming, and to comply with the Dietary Guidelines, has been unaddressed for far too long. Better alcohol awareness cannot happen without better labeling."
