Latest news with #AlcoholHealthwatch
Scoop
22-07-2025
- Health
- Scoop
NZABC Challenges Flawed Audit On Pregnancy Warning Labels On Beer Wine And Spirits
Alcohol Healthwatch (AHW) recently issued a media release stating that 34% of alcohol products have no pregnancy warning label. The NZ Alcohol Beverages Council was so concerned with this statement that we asked AHW directly[2] for information on which retail outlets and products were not complying with the Food Standards Australia New Zealand requirements (FSANZ)[3]. AHW said 'there was wide-spread non-compliance regardless of the type or location of the premises and it was unhelpful to identify individual retailers as this existed on a widespread scale'. 'Due to the seriousness of AHWs claims, we conducted our own audit in one retail store and checked 1756 products. We found that 99.3%[4] of products had correct pregnancy warning labelling'[5], said Executive Director Virginia Nicholls. There were 20 products that did not have a pregnancy label. As these products were manufactured before 1 August 2023 they complied with FSANZ. Twelve products (0.7%) were not labelled correctly. One NZ product was incorrectly labelled and we believe this originated from a cancelled export order. The other products either missed the over-sticker process or the labels may have detached while in-store. This retail group has now contacted the suppliers of the 12 products to ensure they relabel existing products instore and in their own stock holdings. Why is the NZABC audit so different to the AHW factsheet?[6] Crucial information was missing from the AHW factsheet including the locations or products that were audited and the issues with the products that did not meet the FSANZ requirements. In the factsheet it said that photos were taken but none were provided to identify the exact pregnancy label issues. AHW state (p6) that 'although 33.5% of the products did not have the correct pregnancy warning label, it is difficult to determine whether these are non-compliant they need to be manufactured after 1 August 2023, but the date of manufacture can be difficult for a layperson to determine.' Why was this information not included in the AHW media release? AHW does not fully acknowledge FSANZ requirements in the factsheet. Ironically the only photos provided meet FSANZ requirements: Pregnancy label near an industry label or message (such as drink responsibly); Pregnancy label near links to an industry website; Pregnancy label found on the bottom or base of the packaging/box. In Table 1 there are also a number of 'unknowns' – with one category as high as 19%. In the small print it says that 'the majority of products in this category were multipacks where the full labelling of the individual units could not be seen.' AHW stated that the 'purpose of gathering the information was to find out if the same problem exists in New Zealand as in Australia. In Australia 37% of alcohol products did not have the warning, or if they did, it was most commonly placed at the back of products'. Again this meets the FSANZ requirements. 'We recognise the limitation of space on the beer, wine and spirits labels/boxes and take great pride in meeting FSANZ's requirements in spite of this constraint,' said Virginia. 'Its important to reiterate that we support the Health NZ advice to stop drinking alcohol if you are trying to get pregnant, could be pregnant or are pregnant', said Virginia. About the New Zealand Alcohol Beverages Council The NZ Alcohol Beverages Council is a pan-industry group that comments publicly on matters relating to the beer, wine, spirits and beverages industry. It focuses on supporting responsible alcohol consumption and wants to see a fair and balanced debate on alcohol regulation in New Zealand. Note: [1] Media release - No pregnancy warning labels on alcohol 11 June [2] AHW replied (and I paraphrase) that 'there was wide-spread non-compliance regardless of the type or location of the premises. They felt it was unhelpful to identify individual retailers as this existed on a widespread scale'. AHW also said the 'purpose of gathering the information was to find out if the same problem exists in New Zealand as in Australia. In Australia 37% of alcohol products did not have the warning, or if they did, it was most commonly placed at the back of products'. [3] FSANZ have updated pregnancy alcohol labelling requirements since 1 August 2023. Every product manufactured after this time is required to have a pregnancy warning label for sale in Australia and NZ. There will still be a number of products that were manufactured before this time which do not need to have this label. Pregnancy warning labels downloadable files – Food Standards Australia New Zealand
Scoop
16-07-2025
- Health
- Scoop
New Low-Risk Drinking Guidelines Challenge Outdated Advice
We all want the most up-to-date information to help us make informed choices for ourselves and our families. This is why today Alcohol Healthwatch have just posted the most recent evidence-based low-risk drinking guidelines on their website. New Zealand's drinking guidelines are out of date and do not align with research showing there is no safe level of alcohol consumption, particularly for cancer risk. Information obtained by RNZ shows the alcohol industry has worked to pause a review of the official low-risk drinking guidelines for New Zealand. These guidelines have not been updated since their release in 2011. " Quality, evidence-based drinking guidelines are crucial to help people understand the risk from alcohol, and evidence shows risk is present even at low levels of alcohol consumption," says Andrew Galloway, Executive Director of Alcohol Healthwatch. "Low-risk drinking guidelines are a tool for individuals but also for health practitioners, (like GPs and emergency department staff) to use these when discussing alcohol use with their patients." Alcohol industry lobbyists were exposed by RNZ requesting that information about the review of the New Zealand low-risk drinking guidelines and links to other countries' guidelines be removed from the Health NZ website. The alcohol industry has a track record of opposing effective health policies. As a recent Public Health Communication Centre briefing on the rising influence of big business in policy making states: "t he alcohol industry profits when they impede effective policies, while individuals, wh ānau / families and taxpayers bear the costs, which fall disproportionately on Māori and low-income communities." A recent poll shows the majority of New Zealanders agree the alcohol industry should have no place in developing alcohol policy. "As the official New Zealand low-risk drinking guidelines are out of date, and a review of the guidelines has been paused, we thought we'd offer the New Zealand public the most recent, credible and evidence-based guidelines. People in Aotearoa New Zealand deserve to know the risks from alcohol, our nation's most harmful drug ."
RNZ News
11-06-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Christchurch community have their say on council's new alcohol policy draft
Council staff confirmed the draft LAP would not affect the remote sale of alcohol. Photo: 123RF Wayne Hawker tearfully recounted losing his former son-in-law to alcohol abuse while calling on the Christchurch City Council to clamp down on liquor sales in the city. The Christchurch man recalled his family's pain during a hearing on the council's draft local alcohol policy (LAP). The council had proposed ending alcohol sales at off-licence premises - such as bottle shops and supermarkets - at 9pm, as well as introducing a moratorium on new bottle stores in deprived areas and restricting their proximity to schools and addiction services. Current trading hours in the city were 7am to 11pm. Hawker was among the 415 people, businesses and organisations who made submissions on the council's proposal. On Wednesday, he told councillors he lost his former son-in-law to alcohol abuse and easy access to alcohol destroyed lives. "Our daughter... lost someone she thought was her soulmate. Our three grandchildren... 12, 10 and 8 at the time, lost their father. It can be squarely blamed on alcohol," he said. He urged city councillors to further restrict liquor sales, saying supermarkets did not need to sell alcohol as early as 7am. During the hearing, councillors heard varying views from community board members, alcohol harm advocates, business leaders and members of the public. Alcohol Healthwatch executive director Andrew Galloway commended the council on its draft LAP, but called for restricting premises to 9am opening and rules which prevented new stores from clustering in the same areas. Waitai Coastal-Burwood-Linwood Community Board chair Paul McMahon supported the proposals, but urged councillors to further restrict new bottle shops in high deprivation areas to prevent them from becoming "stacked up on the edges" nearby. He also asked councillors to consider restricting alcohol deliveries via apps like Uber Eats. Council staff confirmed the draft LAP would not affect the remote sale of alcohol. Hospitality New Zealand central South Island regional manager Nikki Rodgers said the organisation supported the council's draft LAP. "We particularly appreciate the clarity around off-licence provisions, acknowledging the freeze on new licences, while still allowing new renewals and licences upon change of ownership. This provides essential certainty for existing operators and future investors," she said. Deputy mayor Pauline Cotter asked Rodgers what she thought about McMahon's proposal for greater restrictions in high deprivation areas. Rodgers said it would be hard to put such a restriction in place, given potential population growth. Foodstuffs South Island head of retail Kent Mahon said nine of the company's 18 Christchurch supermarkets would be affected by the 9pm closing time. The changes might lead to stores closing at 9pm, he said. If those stores were to remain open after 9pm, customers might be confused by the rules, leading to staff being abused as a result, Mahon said. "A customer loads up their shop, there's a bottle of wine in there at 9 or 8.58pm, and they can't process that whole transaction through," he said. "We all read the media, and there is abuse towards staff in our stores. Those staff would need to manage that inconsistent messaging." Councillor Sara Templeton. Photo: screenshot / Stuff Councillor Sara Templeton said apart from the potential for conflict for supermarket staff, it did not sound like the changes would have much effect on the stores. Some Super Liquor operators also addressed their concerns with the LAP. Super Liquor Ilam and Hornby co-owner John Symon told councillors he would willingly support closing stores at 9pm, so long as the council put those same restrictions on alcohol deliveries. "It seems ludicrous that on a remote licence you can supply alcohol up to 11 o'clock at night," he said. He supported the idea of preventing new outlets from opening in high deprivation areas, so long as it applied to supermarkets, and said he supported the idea of a 500-metre buffer zone around those areas. Super Liquor Holdings' national operations manager Greg Hoar said delivery drivers should be restricted from delivering alcohol at the same time stores were shut. The company did not agree with restricting new outlets based on deprivation, Hoar said. He described the approach as "one-sided", since the LAP would not put the same restrictions on on-licence premises or new supermarkets. "You have to be 18 to enter into an off-licence premises or with a legal guardian, yet you can walk past outlets or through a liquor section of a supermarket without being questioned," Hoar said. "We have clean sites with no branding of beers, RTD and wines on our buildings, yet I can walk past an on-licence premises and see people smoking and drinking outside with happy hour signs, or waltz into a supermarket." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Scoop
11-06-2025
- Health
- Scoop
No Pregnancy Warning Labels On Alcohol
Press Release – Alcohol Healthwatch The report has some worrying findings, chief among them that over a third of alcohol products still do not have the correct pregnancy warning label. Just under half (44%) of the 400+ products audited either had no label, or had the label hidden on the … – 34% of alcohol products have no pregnancy warning label, shows new report. – 16% of alcohol products with the correct label have it hidden on the bottom of the packaging where it is less likely to be seen. Every baby deserves the best possible start in life. But new report by Alcohol Healthwatch of New Zealand's first audit of pregnancy warning labels on alcohol products, suggests that the low presence of correct labelling might be undermining this. The report has some worrying findings, chief among them that over a third of alcohol products still do not have the correct pregnancy warning label. Just under half (44%) of the 400+ products audited either had no label, or had the label hidden on the bottom of the packaging. The Government-mandated pregnancy warning label became compulsory from August 2023, following over twenty-years of advocacy by public health professionals and communities. Pregnancy warning labels are an important tool to share the information that no amount of alcohol is safe to consume when pregnant. Exposure of alcohol in-utero can lead to fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), a lifelong disability characterised by cognitive, emotional, and functional deficits. FASD comprises over half of the estimated $9.1 billion dollars in alcohol harm felt in New Zealand annually. 'Communities have been fighting for a pregnancy warning label for twenty years,' says Sarah Sneyd, lead study author and Senior Health Promotion Advisor at Alcohol Healthwatch. 'People tell us all the time that if they pick up a bottle of wine, they expect that it will have the pregnancy warning label on it. But what we've found is that even a year after being mandatory, there's a good chance it won't have the message.' Spirits was the least likely to have the pregnancy warning label on it, with only 48% of spirits audited showing the warning label. This is likely due to its longer shelf life, as the law only states that alcohol manufactured from 31 July 2023 is required to have a warning label, not all alcohol sold. Wine was the next least likely to show the label, with only 57% showing the warning label. 'Spirits are some of the strongest alcohol you can buy, and wine is very popular among women,' says Sneyd. 'And they're the least likely to show a pregnancy warning label! It's just not good enough – this is a massive loophole that needs to be closed.' There is no requirement for any other health or warning label on alcohol products, such as the fact that it causes cancer. Furthermore, unlike almost every other consumable food or drink item, alcohol products (apart from RTDs) do not have to provide an ingredient list. Like Big Tobacco tactics, Big Alcohol has an incentive to delay or sidestep labelling requirements for as long as possible, to protect profit margins at the expense of health. However, the audit revealed much higher rates of industry-designed labels, with 78% of products having an industry-designed label, including urges to 'drink responsibly'. Often this messaging was located next to or near the pregnancy warning label, and may confuse viewers. This highlights the urgent need for a range of rotating health warnings to meet consumer rights for information. These labels must be prominent (i.e. not located at the bottom of packaging). Sneyd believes that in order for consumers to make informed decisions, they need the information. 'We're talking about preventing babies being born with brain damage; it goes without saying that this is an important message. If we can get communities the information they are entitled to, then we're one step closer towards every baby having the best possible start in life.'
