Transparency and accountability to consumers are at the heart of the codes of conduct of the brewing industry
European brewers have reiterated their progress in voluntarily labeling beer with data on ingredients and energy value during the sector’s traditional autumn meeting in Brussels. According to the organization, informed citizens who make informed decisions improve their quality of life and influence public attitudes.
Exactly two years ago, all national associations of beer producers in the EU (including the Union of Brewers in Bulgaria) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the European Commission to list ingredients and energy value on all beer packages by 2022. From Brewers Europe has announced that the medium-term objectives for voluntary labeling of sparkling beverages have already been exceeded. 93% of beers in the EU have information on ingredients, and over 45 billion beer bottles and cans have calorie data.
The Bulgarian beer market also acknowledges the successful introduction of good labeling practices. The monitoring of the UBB shows that all beer producers in the country put a list of ingredients on their bottles and cans, and the members of the UBB also provide the caloric content for 100 ml of their products. In practice, this means that 100% of the beer produced in the country, and in quantitative terms over 530 million beer packages in our country, contain this information for the benefit of Bulgarian consumers.
In this spirit of transparency and accountability, Europe’s Brewers have also joined the new European commitment to support the transition to sustainable food systems by signing an EU Code of Conduct for responsible food business and trade practices. This document is a key element of the European strategy “Farm to fork”. The initiative aims to encourage food and beverage producers, processors and traders to volunteer and communicate information in support of a healthy, balanced and sustainable diet, including by providing transparent product data to consumers. And by signing the Code, the Brewers of Europe, including the Union of Brewers in Bulgaria - UBB, express their proactive approach in the implementation of all European policies and practices in consumer protection.
“The update of the Code of Conduct for Responsible Commercial Communications and Ethical Standards of the UBB is in full sync with these self-regulatory initiatives and approaches. In it, we add guidelines for working with influencers on social networks to the extended rules for digital marketing. Globally, they have recently become part of the multinational beer companies’ responsible communications commitments. At the sectoral level, Bulgarian brewers are again innovators and UBB is the first branch organization to introduce rules for marketing with influencers”, commented from the UBB.
