U.S. Consumers Support Improved Alcohol Labeling

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), which regulates most alcoholic beverages in the U.S., is considering a policy to require additional information on labels of alcoholic beverages sold in the U.S., including calories, nutritional content, ingredients, allergens, and alcohol content. Currently, companies are allowed to provide this information on a voluntary basis, but it is not required.

In March 2024, CSPI commissioned a national survey to assess consumer opinions about transparency in alcohol labeling. Big Village’s CARAVAN U.S. Online Omnibus Survey was administered to a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults, demographically balanced to represent the U.S. Census on age, sex, region, race, and ethnicity. The sample analyzed in this document included 1,509 adults who reported drinking alcohol at least once in the past year.

Key Findings

1. Consumers want more nutrition and alcohol content information on labels
The majority of respondents said they either strongly support or somewhat support policies to require alcohol content, ingredients, allergens, calorie content, nutritional content, and serving size information on alcohol labels (63-77%, depending on the labeling element; Figure 1).

2. Consumers believe having more information would impact how they purchase alcohol
The majority of consumers believe the same labeling elements would be at least somewhat important for helping them decide whether to purchase a particular alcoholic beverage (72-90%, depending on the labeling element; Figure 2).

3. Consumers want to see this information on the physical packaging
More than 75% of respondents said they would prefer to “read this information on the label of the container” (as opposed to on a website or via a QR code; Figure 3).

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