US Goverment's New Low Carb Ruling
Author: Nerello Glasure
The US government issued their ruling on the caloric and carbohydrate verbiage that can be used in the labeling and advertising of wine and other spirits. As stated in the ruling, "Truthful and specific statements about calorie and carbohydrate content in the labeling and advertising of wine, distilled spirits, and malt beverages are authorized".
What This Authorization Means
In short, it means that wine producers will have new marketing opportunities to pursue. Many wine manufacturers are beginning to market their low-carbohydrate products as healthy and fitting perfectly into a low carb diet.
As example, Brown-Forman recently jumped on the low-carb bandwagon with two new and innovative products: One.6 Chardonnay and One.9 Merlot. They are branding and communicating the names One.6 and One.9 to highlight the respective carb count of the wines. One.9 Merlot has 1.9 carbs and One.6 Chardonnay has 1.6 carbs per five-ounce glass.
What Caused It?
A handful of companies had already started making low carbohydrate claims in advertisements and labels. The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau was concerned about possible advertising misrepresentation and implying that the consumption of "low-carbohydrate" wines or spirits may play a healthy role in a weight maintenance or weight reduction plan.
The government's bureau is in the process of taking a comprehensive review of all aspects of wine and labeling and advertising. One of the rulemaking determinations will be on the possible mandatory or voluntary use of nutritional information on wine labels. However, rather than waiting the completion of the more comprehensive review, the bureau moved forward with Ruling 2004-1.
Low-Carb Rules
The government's low-carb criteria from the ruling states the wine must have lower than 7 grams in a 5oz serving. Most Champagnes and dry wines will easily make that classification. In the situation where wines come with slightly higher carbohydrate content (more than 7 grams), the government approved the use of the terms "reduced carbohydrate" and "lower carbohydrate" (as well as similar terms). These can be used on labels or advertising as long as the term is used as part of a statement that specifies the number of carbohydrates per serving size, and compares that number with the number of carbohydrates in another specified product made by that producer.
About the AuthorNerello Glasure [Fashion Artist of Zany Wearables: http://www.zanygiftware.com and a Publishing Member of the Wine Resource: http://www.winedefinitions.com.]
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Here is today's feature Lowcarb article.
Staying Healthy on a Low Carbohydrate Diet
by: Marjorie Geiser
It is estimated that about 32 million Americans are following some type of low carbohydrate diet. This is the result of fad diet authors claiming that carbohydrates are the cause for America’s rising obesity problems. The backlash against carbohydrates is a result of the low fat craze that started in the 80’s.When consumers started cutting down their fat intake, manufacturers figured out that they could create low fat processed food products that the public would buy. Because these products claimed to be ‘fat free’, Americans didn’t pay attention to the fact that they were not also ‘calorie free’, and as a result, the total amount of daily calories has slowly been increasing.
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The information and
opinions above are those of the authors. There is no guarantee of
accuracy. Consult your personal doctor before you start a new diet,
exercise program, or take supplements.
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