FSANZ’s proposal for labelling includes the mandate that energy units (in kJ and Cals) for BOTH the 100ml measurement and the serving size must be labelling, and notes that voluntary labelling in the EU must be done in 100ml serves.

There is another difficulty in the proposal. The format for the energy label is drafted as:

The number of servings per container is to be included. But this may not equate to the number of standard drinks in the bottle, if the product has a non-standard ABV – for example, a gin at 41.5% ABV, with a standard drink size of 30ml, will come up with different numbers for number of servings and number of standard drinks in the container. This may cause confusion, and the FSANZ paper notes consumers do not understand the difference between a serving size and a standard drink.

We will continue to advocate for energy labelling to be clear, consistent and not cause confusion for consumers. We have also argued that small producers be exempt.