UK: Big Alcohol Fails Labeling Update
Big Alcohol fails at labelling update as it is revealed nearly three quarters of alcohol sold in the United Kingdom do not follow government guidelines.
After 4 years of the new alcohol use guidelines having been in practice in the UK, Big Alcohol is still failing to bring their labels in line with the new information. The Alcohol Health Alliance – a coalition of 50 organisations including the Royal College of Physicians and Cancer Research UK – found:
- 1 in 4 alcohol products had the wrong advice displayed suggesting men can consume 28 units of alcohol, per week and women 21 units per week.
- Almost half of the alcohol products did not have any guidelines on the label at all.
In 2016 the government changed the guidelines to 14 units of alcohol, per week aiming to lower the risk of alcohol harm. Despite science proving that there is no safe level for alcohol use, governments issue alcohol use guidelines in an attempt to reduce the harm in the population.
Alcohol marketing is self-regulated in the UK. This is another good example of alcohol industry self-regulation failure. The alcohol industry was given a final deadline for changing its labels in September 2019 by the Food Standards Agency and have been promising their products will carry the new guidelines from 2019. The above findings show the industry has been failing at updating the labels for 4 years and has ignored recommendations from public health experts.
It is simply outrageous that the vast majority of products still fail to include up-to-date guidelines.
The message is clear: the alcohol industry is not taking the nation’s health seriously and cannot be trusted to regulate itself,” said Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, chairman of the Alcohol Health Alliance, as per, the Daily Mail.
