Alcohol must be included in new European rules on food & drink labelling, says Glenis.   She is prepared to take on both the multi-national drinks companies and the European Commission to ensure that consumers can see what they are buying.

Glenis, Labour’s Public Health spokesperson in the European Parliament, has put down a number of amendments to the new proposals on labelling, and argues that alcoholic products must show both the number of calories and the ingredients on the bottle or can.

She said. “The original proposals from the European Commission exclude alcohol from any additional labelling at present, and merely commit to a report in 5 years time on how the rules could be adapted for the specific case of alcohol.”

“This isn’t good enough.  We have a major obesity problem and alcohol is packed full of calories.   This isn’t going to stop people having their favourite tipple, but it will make sure that drinkers know just how many calories they are taking on board, as well as what is actually in their drink.”

“We’re providing far more information on the food we eat under these new proposals, and there really are no valid reasons why we shouldn’t also include alcohol.”

 
Further information

Watch Glenis's interview on food labelling

For details of the draft proposals on food and drink labelling http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/file.jsp?id=5592852

For amendments http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2009_2014/organes/envi/envi_20100125_1500.htm

2 March 2010