Speaking about the AHA poll Matt Lambert, CEO of the Portman Group, the social responsibility and regulatory body for alcohol in the UK, commented:
“The alcohol industry actively ensures the provision of information for consumers. For over a decade our best practice states that alcoholic drinks have ABV, pregnancy warning symbols or messages and signposting to the independent alcohol information charity Drinkaware; even the outdated 2019 AHA survey recognises that this pretty much universally appears.
“The sector made a commitment in 2019 to put the CMO’s low risk guidance on label and since that point we have seen this rolled out across a large number of products. Many in the sector have made voluntary commitments to putting calories on labels or online – no responsible company is seeking to hide information from consumers.
“A core concern with this poll is that it neglects to highlight how many consumers could correctly estimate the number of calories in a whole range of food and drink products which have calorie labelling whether it be fruit, pizzas or a salad. We suspect that this would likely match the results they found for drinking a glass of wine or beer despite the wealth of nutritional labelling present on food and soft drinks. Labelling can only be one element of educating consumers and we support accurate public health campaigns that help adults to make the best choices.”