The Comité Européen des Entreprises Vins (CEEV) in Brussels has decided that wine and sparkling wine in the EU must in future show calorie information on the label. CEEV represents 7000 companies and wineries in 23 EU member states. However, the committee has negotiated that producers are free to print the information on the label or make it available online with a QR code. This involves reporting calories as energy per 100 ml, preceded by the abbreviation "E=". For example, for a sparkling wine the line would read "E= 301kJ/72kcal (per 100ml)".
The introduction of calorie indications is based on a decision of the EU Commission of March 2017 on consumer health protection. It had given CEEV one year to prepare for the implementation of the requirement.
(uka)