The European Cancer Organisation policy chief said the European Commission’s weekend “wine package” proposal offers a “licence to hide” nutrition and ingredients information from consumers.
Alcohol causes seven types of cancer, being responsible for around 4% of new cancer cases in the EU, according
to the WHO. Over two thirds of these are men because they drink three times as much alcohol as women.
“QR Codes on the label instead of transparent information to consumers. Depressingly bad. It is a licence to hide,” the ECO’s head of policy Richard Price wrote on X. “It is a wine package for the wine industry alright. But it isn’t a package for the consumer or citizens.”
The commission proposes allowing QR codes on wine labels linked to nutrition and ingredient information, rather than having it printed on the label as with every other food and drink, including alcohol-free wine and beer. Health professionals agree the information needs to be on the label.
Very few consumers access information linked through QR codes, lacking the time, skills or device needed. One recent experiment found that less than one in a thousand people accessed QR code information offered in a supermarket.
The commission’s package of proposals contains a raft of measures which coincide with the introduction of US tariffs so steep they effectively bar European alcohol from the US market. ■