Department of the Treasury

Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau

**Labeling and Advertising of Wines,**

**Distilled Spirits and Malt Beverages**

27 CFR Parts 4, 5, and 7

\[Notice No. 41\]

RIN 1513-AB07

Submitted by

Sharon E. Baker

July 19, 2005

PADM 561

Dr. R. Barrett

Sharon E. Baker

July 19, 2005

PADM 561

Dr. R. Barrett

**Labeling and Advertising of Wines,**

**Distilled Spirits and Malt Beverages**

This Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) requests comments from
the public on proposed changes to the labeling and advertisement
requirements of alcohol beverages. The basic premise of the proposed
requirements is whether or not producers of certain alcoholic beverages
should be required to label products with a Statement of Average
Analysis. Currently, the only alcohol and advertisement of alcohol that
requires a Statement of Average Analysis; are products with carbohydrate
or calorie claims, other than the term "lite" or "light" in the brand
name. Additionally, the proposal inquires as to what specific
information should be listed on the analysis. The notice presents
several proposals that address more intricate terms and aspects of
labeling these products. Such as whether the labeling should be
mandatory or voluntary; should it include calories, carbohydrates,
alcohol facts, allergens, serving size, composite nutrients, or any
combination thereof. There are several detailed facets of this proposed
rulemaking change; however, for the purpose of this assignment, the
focus will be should producers include carbohydrate and caloric
information on nutritional labels, does this information satisfies the
public need, and should producers, despite the costs, be compelled to
provide the information?

Interest in low carbohydrate foods has surged during the past five
years. Statistics indicate that approximately 50% of adult women and
about 25% of adult men are dieting on a typical day and 32 million
dieters are following a low-carbohydrate diet (Lopez, Soliah, Walter,
2005). The Alcohol, Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) which regulates
most alcohol beverages, does not define what constitutes a dietary
composition or what defines low and reduced dietary ingredient. Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) established these definitions and guidelines.
The FDA requires that both dietary fiber and sugar alcohols (nutritive
sweetners) be included in the total carbohydrate content on food labels.
However, the FDA has not issued official definitions for terms as net
carbohydrates, free, low, or reduced carbohydrates. There is some
speculation that these terms will be defined in the near future
according to Lopez et al. (2005).

Food manufacturers have added net carbohydrates to food labels to give
their products extra consumer appeal. The implied definition for net
carbohydrates is the amount of carbohydrates available for immediate
digestion and use. To calculate net carbohydrates, subtract the grams of
dietary fiber and sugar alcohols from total carbohydrates. Lopez et al.
(2005) explains the rationale for the subtraction is that the body does
not digest dietary fiber and sugar alcohols have delayed digestive
action. Therefore, sugar alcohols slow down the blood glucose response.
The FDA has not endorsed use of the term net carbs on food labels, nor
have they prevented companies from using the term.

Most low-carbohydrate foods are legitimate (lower in carbohydrates,
kilocalories, and/or fat) compared to their regular food counterpart.
Nevertheless, some low-carbohydrate foods are neither low in
carbohydrates nor kilocalories according to Lopez et al. (2005). There
is not a clear and definitive definition of carbohydrates and the term
is misleading to the average consumer. Most consumers probably do not
understand how carbohydrates are metabolized or the process that
stimulates weight loss.

The enthusiasm for low carbohydrate diets are on the way out. "We\'ve
come off a two-year period where the Atkins and South Beach diets became
mainstream and searching labels for carb counts was the rule". As the
sales of low-carb foods have waned and many consumers found this
\"quick-fix\" diet wasn\'t so easy to follow after all, one of the
precepts of the low-carb diet is making its way to the forefront. It\'s
called the glycemie index (GI) (Lempert 2005).

As America continues to introduce new ways for conscientious consumers
to lose weight with specific focus on an ingredient, producers will be
continually revising labels to conform to the latest trend. Trend
labeling does not seem to have the significant financial impact that
nutritional labeling has; albeit it should. Within a profit driven
market, advertising would be slanted to encourage sales with misleading
claims or terms the average consumer does not fully understand. Because
of the complexities associated with the term "carbohydrate" and the
FDA's failure to define the terms "low" and "reduced" as it relates to
carbohydrates, producers continue to capitalize on this diet trend;
although waning, does a disservice to the consumer.

Alcohol is sometimes considered a food and each gram of pure alcohol
contains seven calories. However, these are often called \"empty
calories,\" as they contain no other nutrients. A half ounce of alcohol
contains about 100 calories, but the various sugars found in most
drinks, especially beer and wine, give higher calories to each
average-sized drink. A bottle of beer (twelve ounces) contains about 170
calories, two ounces of whiskey contain approximately 140 calories, and
eight ounces of wine contain about 270 calories. The most useful and
most inquired information by most consumers; including myself, regarding
the nutritional breakdown of alcohol products is the amount of calories.
Most dieters fail to calculate their alcohol calories into their daily
intake, because there is no nutritional value. The information is not
readily available, so the term "empty calories" leads many consumers to
disregard the number of calories from alcohol beverages they consumed.
The latest analysis of foods Americans eat, based on 24-hour consumption
reports from 4,760 adult participants in the National Health and
Nutrition Examination Survey, revealed that at least 30 percent of total
calories come from sugary and salty snacks and drinks: sweets, desserts,
soft drinks, alcoholic beverages, salty snacks and fruit-flavored
drinks. (Lopez, et al. 2005)

The proposed "Alcohol Facts" labels should include the number of
calories and serving size. Today, more than ever, as the baby boomer
generation gets older and lives longer, there has been an increasing
demand for information that is constant and reliable. Alcohol beverages
are not meant to replace food and should not be considered a source of
nutrition. However, for those discretionary calories, the consumer has a
right to be able to accurately calculate their consumption of this
product as part of the daily intake. Although fat content is important
to some; if one chooses to ingest more than a couple of servings, the
importance of this fact will soon dissipate with their state of
inebriation. Reliable and consistent information; such as calories and
serving sizes that cannot be skewed by marketing techniques; that is not
nebulous or ambiguous is what should be a mandatory requirement. Not
unstable data that is difficult to understand, interpret, has multiple
pr hidden meanings, and is subject to change based on social trends.

TTB's mission is "to collect taxes owed, and to ensure that alcohol
beverages are produced, labeled, advertised and marketed in accordance
with Federal law. Our objectives are to protect the revenue, **protect
the consumer** and promote voluntary compliance". Consumers have battled
years for the right to know what is contained in a product and need the
information to make well-informed healthy lifestyle decisions
(Polowchena, 2005). This can only be done with appropriate, not
misleading information. Alcohol production is a billion dollar profit
driven industry and it is hard to image that the mandatory requirement
to list serving size and calories would be fiscally devastating, even to
small businesses. According to comment #40 (Wold) regarding Notice No.
41, the FDA found that the cost of new labels per stock keeping unit was
insignificant. Each bottle would cost less than 0.00067 of a cent.
Therefore the decision should be heavily weighted on consumer desires
than product industry inconvenience of cost which will undoubtedly be
passed onto the consumer.

Chief, Regulations and Procedures Division

Alcohol, Tobacco Tax, and Trade Bureau

Attention: Notice 41

P. O. Box 14412

Washington D. C. 20044-4412

Re: Department of Treasury

Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau

27 CFR Parts 4,5, and 7

\[Notice No. 41\]

RIN 1513-AB07

Sharon E. Baker

23547 Silverwood Street

Murrieta, CA 92562

**Labeling and Advertising of Wines, Distilled Spirits and Malt
Beverages**

There is a definite public need for the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and
Trade Bureau (TTB) to require mandatory undisputed information on labels
of all alcohol beverage products. Alcohol does not contain any required
daily nutrients and is not considered in a food group. Much of the
information posed for inclusion in the proposal would lead to more
confusion and gives producers another tool to manipulate health and
dietary concerns.

The most useful, consistent, and undisputed information would be
calories, alcohol content and serving size. This provides enough
information for the conscientious dieter to responsibly calculate and
utilize their discretionary daily calories. People with particular
health concerns associated with sugar and allergens should deduce that
exceeding the suggested serving size could manifest some health
conflicts. I would recommend prohibiting the use of references to
carbohydrates, using the terms "lite" or "light", or reduced calorie.
These terms are misleading and have not been defined by the Food and
Drug Administration. There are undoubtedly millions of "light" beer
drinking consumers that are bewildered because their abdomen looks more
like two liters than a six pack after switching to "light" beer.

Caloric quantity, alcohol content, and serving sizes and are three
issues that advertisers may find more difficult to manipulate and
mislead the consumer. These pieces of factual information are stable and
most presumably could not used in some innovative frenzy diet trend.

The alcohol content would be helpful to the consumer. There are
countless individuals that do not understand that consuming large
quantities of beer and wine can have an equal or greater effect than
distilled alcohol products. As a law enforcement officer, I have
arrested hundreds of people who believed they would not become as
inebriated if they consumed beer and wine. The term "lite" is misleading
and consumers assume the effects of alcohol are less, regardless of how
much they consume.

There should be three simple and undisputable facts listed on all
alcoholic beverages, as illustrated in paragraph 5 on page 22275,
Alcohol Facts; serving size, calories per serving, and alcohol per
serving. Alcohol per volume is not useful information; what does it
mean? Delete the U. S. Dietary Guideline, unless TTB wants to grant
permission for people to drink daily. Because of the format, it appears
that TTB endorses or encourages people to meet this requirement. In the
interest of the alcohol producers, the consumers, and the public, I urge
TTB to keep it simple and consistent.

References

Lopez, M., Soliah, L., and Walter, J. (2005, April) Low-Carb Food
Choices: The Net Effect*. Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences*, Vol.
97, Iss. 2, pgs. 4.

Brody, J. E. (2004, September 21). Beware Food Companies\' Health
Claims**.** *New York Times, p. F7*. 

Lemper, P. (2005 May 1) The Next Big Diet Trend. *Progressive Grocer*,
Vol. 84 pg 1

Polowchena, D. L. (1989). The Right to Know. In Engs, R. C. (Eds.),
Controversies in the Addition's Field. (pp. 137 -- 142)