The Spanish Spirits employer association has presented this week a new digital label, in the form of a QR code, which aims to make the nutritional data of beverages and health and sustainability information accessible to consumers. An exercise in transparency by the sector, which was announced this Thursday at the National Congress of Spirits, in the town of Jabugo (Huelva).
The Board of Trustees has indicated that currently, on the shelves of the main supermarkets, 19% of the audited beverages have a standardized QR that allows access to this data. Of these labels, 70% have nutritional information, while 65% include alcohol consumption prevention pictograms, such as for pregnant women.
Another of the actions that was made public at this congress is the investment of 29 million euros in campaigns and measures to promote the responsible consumption of alcoholic beverages. In addition, in relation to their commitment to environmental sustainability, the employers assured that 93% of the solid waste they generate is already recycled.
The launch of this labeling − "an extraordinary job that places Spain as a benchmark", Fernando Miranda, from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, declared at the meeting − coincides with the approval of a new law in Ireland so that all alcoholic beverages include, as of 2026, on the label, the caloric content and warnings about its risks to health. This measure, unlike the one promoted in Spain by the spirits sector, will also affect wine.
Some of these ads will report on the relationship between alcohol consumption and the possibility of developing cancer or liver disease. In this way, Ireland will become the first country to offer this information to the consumer on the label of all alcoholic beverages.
The move, notes Reuters, has prompted several of Ireland's main trading partners to raise their concerns with the European Commission. Nine EU members, including France, have submitted unfavorable rulings in response to the plans.
Spain, one of the largest wine producers on the planet, has been one of the countries that has opposed the Irish measure and has appealed to the European Commission to prevent the implementation of this labeling in Ireland.
The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, pointed out last Monday that he respects the competence of the Member States in terms of health, but that in the case of wine labeling "an agri-food market and a product included as food in Annex 1 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union”. Therefore, he considers that it should not be put in the same bag as other alcoholic beverages.
As is logical, the Irish decision has not been liked by Spanish wine producers, who have stated that labeling in Ireland represents a "rupture of the single market" and that it will make exports "very" difficult, reports EFE.
