Support grows for energy labels on alcohol

Support is growing for including energy information on alcoholic drinks labels, according to members of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) board when it met last week.

The FSA launched a public consultation on nutrition labelling on February 8 and aims to close the consultation on May 2.

The board discussed the progress of the consultation. John Spence, board member for Wales and chair of the Welsh Food Advisory Committee referred to “strong support for the inclusion of labelling on all alcoholic beverages” at a stakeholder group meeting in Wales.

Dr Maureen Edmondson, board member for Northern Ireland and chair of the Northern Ireland Food Advisory Committee, said a similar group in Northern Ireland had been “very keen to see energy on all alcoholic drinks”

Meanwhile, FSA chair Deirdre Hutton moved to quell Food and Drink Federation (FDF) fears that the FSA board would make any decision on food labelling before the public consultation was over.

The FDF wrote to the FSA when it heard the board would be discussing the issue last week.