Brussels, 29/06/2012 (Agence Europe) - European wine growers are going to have to indicate on their bottle labels if the wine contains traces of egg or milk which are potentially allergenic. On Friday 29 June the Commission adopted new rules on allergen labelling in the wine sector, due to the expiry of the derogation from the labelling obligation which had been provisionally granted to this sector in 2007. The regulation will be published in the Official Journal of the EU on Saturday 30 June.
The aim is to better inform European consumers of risks of allergic reactions. The new rules are in line with the recommendations of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV). Some non-EU countries, for instance, Australia and New Zealand, already have similar rules in place. The new rules will apply to wines made totally or in part from wines from the 2012 harvest and harvests thereafter. They will apply to EU wines and wines from third countries that are marketed after 30 June 2012, though with two exceptions related to whether or not the allergenic substances are present in the final product for consumption.
Not all wines, then, will be subject to these rules. Exemptions will be for: - wines in which potentially allergenic substances from milk or eggs (albumin and casein derivatives notably) are not used by producers in the winemaking process; - and wines in which no trace of allergenic substances can be found in the final product, using methods of analysis and detection criteria recommended by the OIV, after filtering and racking.
Wines in which potential allergenic ingredients remain present will have to be labelled as “containing” followed by, for example, “egg”, “egg albumin”, “milk” or “milk casein”, if necessary in several languages. In order to give the clearest possible information to consumers, the regulation states that the label may also contain a single pictogram containing the word “allergenic” in all the languages of the EU. Operators will be able to adapt the pictogram to suit the ingredient that may remain present in the wine and restrict the number of languages required for the compulsory information. (LC/transl.fl/rt)