News

Mandatory labelling on drinks bottles and cans showing the number of units of alcohol they contain could be on the cards following a government consultation on England's drinking culture.

The Department of Health consultation, which closes on 14 October, threatens retailers and alcohol producers with regulation that could force them to provide mandatory health warnings on packaging if they do not voluntarily include them by the end of the year.

Public health minister Dawn Primarolo said: "Some sections of the industry are sticking to the voluntary codes, others are blatantly ignoring them.

"This consultation will decide whether legally binding regulations for retailers and manufacturers to promote sensible drinking are the way forward."

A review by KPMG of alcohol industry standards found that voluntary agreements were not being followed and independent monitoring of labelling agreements also produced "disappointing" interim results, the Department of Health said.

Drinks watchdog The Portman Group said the findings of the labelling review were "shockingly flawed" because the authors failed to take account of brand share.

Chief executive David Poley said the group's members, including Diageo, Carlsberg and Scottish and Newcastle, produce 60% of the alcohol on sale in the UK.

"They set up the Drinkaware website and promote it on their labels alongside unit information. Under the voluntary agreement with government, the industry was given until the end of this year to adapt its labels," he added.

"The need for legislation should be considered then based on a proper and accurate evaluation."

Tesco said it is rolling out the Department of Health's recommended health warning labels and alcohol unit information on its own-brand drinks labels by the end of the year.