July 31/Washington/PRNewswire-USNewswire -- The National Consumers League (NCL) congratulated the U.S. Treasury Department's Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) on its publication of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to require Alcohol Facts Panels on beer, wine and distilled spirits labels.

In December 2003, NCL and 75 other public health and consumer organizations petitioned TTB to require a standardized "Alcohol Facts" panel on all beverage alcohol products. Modeled after the label formats now required for virtually every other consumable product, NCL's petition called on TTB to require labeling information about the alcohol content and alcohol per serving, as well as calories, ingredients, and carbohydrates in order to help consumers make more informed choices about their consumption of alcohol.

"Now, nearly four years after our petition was filed, if the Proposed Rule is finalized in its current form, consumers will be able to make more informed decisions about what and how much to drink," said NCL president Linda Golodner. "We are greatly encouraged by this proposed rulemaking, which shows progress in bringing alcohol regulation up to date with other consumer products. Finally, adult Americans will have ready access to the kind of basic product information that has long been required for foods, nonalcoholic beverages, over-the-counter medicines, and even dietary supplements," she added.

According to today's publication, comments will be collected until October 29, at which time the TTB will decide whether to finalize the new proposed rule. Once a final rule is published, the new labels would be required on alcoholic beverages in three years.

From the August 13, 2007, Prepared Foods e-Flash