Beer Marketer's Insights - TTB Withdrew Ingredient Labeling Rulemaking

One of 3 major alc bev labeling rules coming down the pike seems to have taken an early exit. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has ended the process for potentially requiring ingredient labeling for alc bevs, akin to other food and bev products, Beer Inst shared with members this afternoon. Federal govt website confirms the withdrawal of the process. Recall, TTB issued proposed rules for alcohol content and allergen labeling earlier this yr and is currently taking comments thru next mo. But a 3rd topic, ingredient labeling, was further behind. The trio of labeling issues all originated in the Competition Report of 2022, required by the Biden Admin's Executive Order on Competition the yr prior. Of the 3, ingredient labeling was broadly considered the most complicated and controversial. The major question facing the TTB was what to consider an ingredient. Many ingredients are transformed in the fermentation and distilling processes and various tool or agents are used in the making of alc bevs that do not end up in the final product (or only do in trace amounts). Industry and public views on how to consider the issue varied considerably. Now, TTB won't need to answer that question.Note too that the withdrawal comes in the first few months of a new presidential administration that paused all new regulations and rulemaking processes as part of a slew of 1st-day executive orders. As of now, the other 2 labeling rulemakings appear to be moving forward. If those processes continue, the withdrawal of the ingredient labeling rulemaking could speed up their implementation. TTB officials have long said that the agency planned to ensure that all 3 new labeling rules, if implemented at all, would take effect on the same timeline so that industry members would only need to make necessary changes once. With the slowest moving of the 3 out of the way, the first 2 could go into effect that much sooner. Then too, TTB recommended a 5-year implementation period for those rules, which still need to be finalized. So we're still a long way out from new federal labeling rules for alc bevs.

TTB Withdrew Ingredient Labeling Rulemaking

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