In January, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed a rule to require front-of-package (FOP) nutrition labels on foods that must bear a Nutrition Facts label. Most beverages produced at breweries fall under the jurisdiction of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) and would not be subject to this rule. An FDA rule would, however, affect two categories of beverage alcohol:

• Fermented grain products made without malted barley or without hops, which includes most hard seltzer products; and
• Wines containing less than 7% alcohol by volume, which includes most hard cider products.

In an effort to prevent undue burdens on breweries and other producers of these products, and to avoid confusion for consumers, the BA recently submitted comments to the FDA. In summary, we asked the FDA to exempt beverage alcohol from any FOP labeling mandate. And in the absence of a full exemption, we stressed that at least kegged products should be exempt, and that the FDA should coordinate the effective date of a final rule with any new labeling changes potentially mandated by the TTB. In separate comments to the FDA and to the Department of Health & Human Services, the Small Business Administration adopted the BA’s position and also advocated for the removal of beverage alcohol from any final FOP labeling rule.

We will continue to work hard to ensure that the voices of small and independent brewers are heard to protect our members’ interests.

Read full comments here.