Question reference: S6W-14218
- Date lodged: 23 January 2023
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Current status: Answered by Maree Todd on 2 February 2023
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Food Standards Scotland about updating the definitions of (a) alcohol-free and (b) low alcohol products in Scotland.
Answer
The Scottish Government has the lead for alcohol policy in Scotland. However, Food Standards Scotland (FSS) has responsibility for the policies surrounding general food labelling in Scotland and work closely with policy officials across the four nations on these issues.
FSS launched a four-week consultation on 23 October 2018 to assess the current understanding and use of the descriptive terms ‘low alcohol’, ‘non-alcoholic’, ‘alcohol-free’ and ‘de alcoholised’ but unfortunately this work was paused due to matters relating to EU exit.