I understand that alcoholic beverages are regulated by the ATF and not the FDA, which is why nutrition fact labels aren’t legally required on alcoholic beverages, but why does this carry over to NA beer?

It’s basically just beer-flavored soda. It has less than the required alcohol content (<0.5%) to be legally classified as an alcoholic beverage. Is it not regulated by the FDA?

The only clue I have is that Nutrition Fact labels appear on cans of NA beer made by companies that only produce NA beer (e.g. Athletic / Partake), but not NA beers produced by existing full-alcohol breweries (e.g. Heineken / Guinness). Is there some sort of “we also produce alcoholic beverages” loophole to avoid FDA regulation?

If so, would it be possible for Coca-Cola, who distributes alcoholic beverages (e.g. Topo Chico hard seltzer / Jack & Coke premixed cocktails), to get around the requirement for their regular sodas?

  • @AlligatorBlizzard
    17•2 months ago

    I wonder if it’s because there’s no lower limit on what’s considered “beer”, so some companies will choose to regulate it as a beer rather than as a soft drink? I know I’m carded whenever I buy NA beer at major retailers - but Whole Foods at least has it with the soft drinks (which may mean it’s 3.2 beer by MN legal standards in some cases)…? I have no idea but DeMorgan’s law says the best way to get the right answer on the internet is not to ask a question; it’s to post the wrong answer.