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More and more people are taking note of the nutritional values listed on edible products in order to establish their menu and have a healthy diet. All edible products must carry a label indicating the nutritional values with the exception of alcoholic products. Why ?
Daniel Bonner, Ham-Nord
Did you know that there can be as many calories in some cans of beer as in a small bag of chips ? And that there are dessert wines twice as sweet as Coca-Cola?
If you answered no, it’s normal: nutritional information is not displayed on alcoholic products.
It is a shortcoming to be corrected.
Why force herbal tea and kombucha manufacturers to reveal the nutritional values of their products, but not beer, wine and spirits manufacturers?
In order to get an answer, we first questioned the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, which deals with food labeling in Quebec.
Mistake.
“In Quebec, the Food Products Act and the Food Regulations regulate the production of food, including beverages that contain 0.5% alcohol or less. When this limit is exceeded, it is the Act respecting the Société des alcools du Québec which frames the practices,” we were told.
As for the SAQ, we were referred to the regulations… of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
Federal regulations provide an “exemption” for products that contain 0.5% alcohol or more, so they are not required to present a Nutrition Facts table.
There are exceptions. A product that contains artificial sweeteners, for example, must display its nutritional values. Same thing if, for marketing reasons, the label refers to the sugar or calorie content of the product. We can think of Michelob Ultra beer, for example. On the case, it is claimed that each 355ml can contains only 90 calories and 3g of carbohydrates. A complete table of nutritional values is also displayed there.
It is also mandatory to declare priority allergens, sulphites and gluten for all alcoholic beverages.
Health Canada explains that alcoholic beverages are exempt from regulatory requirements, “because it has been determined that decisions about alcohol consumption are complex and alcohol should not be associated with positive nutritional benefits.”
Of course, no one wants to encourage people to get their nutrients from beer, wine or whiskey instead of food. But the fact remains that these drinks contain calories and sugar, in particular, and that consumers have the right to know how much they ingest when they raise their elbow.
This is all the more true since the nutritional values can vary greatly from one beer to another and from one wine to another, which makes the analysis very complex for consumers who would like to know what they drink. As for beers, a stout contains many more calories than an ale. In general, the higher the percentage of alcohol, the higher the number of calories. While a regular 355ml beer contains around 150 calories, the count can double to 300 calories for some specialty beers, according to the US National Institutes of Health’s MedlinePlus site.1.
There are even greater variations in the sugar content of wines. While some contain almost no residual sugar, a rosé like the Gallo White Zinfandel contains 37 g per litre. Coke, by comparison, contains around 100g of sugar per litre. An ice wine like that of Orpailleur has 220 g of sugar per litre.
No, not all drinkers would scrutinize the nutrition facts tables displayed on liquor bottles. But those who want to do so should have access to this information in order to make the best choices for their health.