FDA Labeling Update for Craft Beer

From Paul Gatza

Here is where we are:

–FDA enforcement in chain restaurants and similar retail food establishments starts in May.
–The Brewers Association and FDA reached alignment in January that FDA would like to have brand-specific values for calories and carbohydrates. The nine lesser nutrients (total fat, calories from fat, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium, dietary fiber, sugars, and protein) can have the requirements satisfied by the reasonable basis of a database created by the Brewers Association established through a robust lab testing program of beers by styles.
–Brewers Association staff sent in samples for analyses and crunched the averages for the lesser nutrients into a database format for 41 beer styles. For beers that have post-fermentation additions other than hops, the database is not a reasonable basis, and these beers should be lab tested if a brewer wants them available in chain restaurants.
–Brewers Association staff has done extensive work to research and test online calculators for calories and carbohydrates. These calculators are currently in programming development by our web team. The web team will “prettify” the text written by our technical staff into the online resource.
–Our current timeline is for the tool to go live on March 24 or 27 with a BA Forum post to alert members from Technical Brewing Projects Manager Chuck Skypeck.