Oral Testimony for the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) Virtual Public Listening Sessions on Labeling and Advertising of Wine, Distilled Spirits, and Malt Beverages with Alcohol Content, Nutritional Information, Major Food Allergens, an

February 28, 2024 Oral Testimony for the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) Virtual Public Listening Sessions on Labeling and Advertising of Wine, Distilled Spirits, and Malt Beverages with Alcohol Content, Nutritional Information, Major Food Allergens, and Ingredients My name is Eva Greenthal and I’m representing the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a non-profit consumer adv. [...] After we sued TTB for letting 19 years pass without responding to our citizen petition, in November 2022 TTB sent a letter to CSPI and our co- plaintiffs in which the agency finally committed to issuing mandatory labeling rules and said it expected to issue them “within the next year.” Today, fifteen months later, there are no rulemakings in sight. [...] CSPI conducted a study of labels from the top wine and beer brands that were approved in TTB’s COLA database in 2021 and found that just 28% of beers had the full voluntary Serving Facts label and 2% had the voluntary Alcohol Facts label. [...] Only 17% of beers had what appeared to be complete ingredients lists and 6% had voluntary statements about the presence of specific ingredients or allergens, including wheat, shellfish, and gluten. [...] CSPI urges TTB to prioritize transparency and health over corporate interests as it drafts its rulemakings, and to delay no further in issuing proposed rules on mandatory alcohol content, nutrition, ingredient, and allergen labeling.