December 21, 2006

By Amy Elliott @ 11:55 am - Filed under: Contributors, alcohol labeling

I have become a food label-reading fanatic.  Its true.  I can tell you the calories, fat, sugar and fiber in almost any food.

I don’t just do this because I have too much time on my hands (I wish!). I am really trying to live a healthier lifestyle – exercise, vitamins, drink minimum 8 glasses of water and watch what I eat.  I want to look good, but equally important, I want to feel good – why else would anyone do hot yoga?

So why is it that I can look at any food product in the grocery and read the serving facts, but I cannot do that for my alcohol of choice?  I want to know how many grams of fat are in Bailey’s.  I want to know how many carbs are in Guinness.  I want to know how many calories are in my cabernet.

The fact is that Diageo supports VOLUNTARY serving facts labeling and has requested that the TTB (the government agency that regulates the alcohol industry) allow it to print on its labels serving facts. To date, its requests have been denied.
Why?  Why would a governmental agency not want consumers to know what they are consuming?  Wouldn’t that only lead to making better decisions about what to drink or what not to drink?

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