Under the voluntary agreement forged by the Government in 2007 the industry agreed to putting five key pieces of information on labels:

unit information

pregnancy advice

a message about responsible drinking

a logo and link for Drinkaware

NHS recommended limits.

The report, carried out by Campden BRI on behalf of the Dept of Health, states that Sections of the industry have performed extremely well and others have committed to speeding up the process. However, taking account of labels ‘in the pipeline’ would still mean only 19 per cent of labels will be up to scratch in 2010.


Acknowledging the efforts some producers have made, Public Health Minister Gillian Merron said:

"Despite responsible efforts from some brands such as Bulmers, Fosters, Kronenbourg and the major supermarkets, overall progress on labelling is very disappointing.

“Whilst there should be no need to bring in legislation when the industry can clearly sort it out themselves, we will not hesitate to act decisively if industry does not deliver.

“I expect to see much more leadership from more of the major producers.

“We know that too many are drinking at harmful levels and producers should play their part in helping to stem this tide by ensuring we all have access to clear and consistent health information on labels.”


Health Secretary Andy Burnham said:

"We have now received assurances to comply from most of the major manufacturers and retailers.

“I invite industry as a whole to deliver on these assurances, and look forward to finding a way to make this happen during the consultation."


The cider sector has made substantial progress and we can expect further roll-out of the label content expected in the voluntary agreement. This is also true of supermarket ‘own label’ products.


Some major beer producers are also making good progress, with Heineken and Molson Coors providing good quality information on their labels.


Despite these improvements, sections of the drinks industry still have much more to do to live up to their agreement.


Brigid Simmonds, Chief Executive of the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) said:

“Our industry is delivering good and growing levels of information on labels to help people make more informed choices about their drinking behaviour.

“The positive and continuing progress made, not only shows the merits of the voluntary approach, but demonstrates why Government should continue to back the voluntary approach as the best way of achieving their objective of better information for consumers.”


The Government is launching a consultation asking for views on how best to improve unit and health information on the labels. It offers three options to move forward:

do nothing and continue with the current voluntary agreement;

renew and strengthen the self regulatory agreement; or

introduce a mandatory requirement on labelling.

The Consultation starts today and runs until 9 May 2010.


The Independent Monitoring Report and Consultation can be accessed here.
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicheal...se/DH_112472