A food blogger has launched an online petition that hopes to persuade the two largest U.S. beer makers to reveal exactly what they put in their beer.
Beer producers are not regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and do not have to list ingredients on their labels. Vani Hari — known for her FoodBabe.com blog — wants Anheuser-Busch (BUD) and Miller Coors, the U.S. joint venture between Molson Coors (TAP) and SABMiller (SBMRY), to disclose the indigents used to make their beers on their websites. “We know more about what’s in a bottle of Windex and Coca-Cola than we about one of the world’s most popular drinks, beer,” Hari told USA TODAY.
Hari is not asking for government regulation. She wants the beer makers to post their ingredients online voluntarily. She says that the petition will be emailed to the top executives at both companies.
According to Hari, some beers sold by major beer makers contain airplane de-icing chemical Prolyene Glycol, as well as a chemical made from fish bladders called Isinglass.
In a late Wednesday post on her blog, Hari says the online petition has now attracted more than 24,000 signatures.
Miller Coors said that it values transparency and “will strongly consider the request for putting more ingredient information online.” In a statement, an Anheuser-Busch spokesperson said: “We are inviting Vani Hari and her husband to our flagship St. Louis brewery to show how our beers are made and the ingredients we use. “
The Anheuser-Busch spokesperson noted that BUD provides “significant information about our beer and their nutritional content” though its consumer-information website www.tapintoyourbeer.com and consumer telephone hotline. He added that Anheuser-Busch “exceeds what is required of alcohol producers and is beyond what many other beer, wine and hard liquor producers provide” in terms of information. Anheuser-Busch is “working to list our beer ingredients on our website, just as you would see for other food and non-alcohol beverage producers. We are beginning immediately, having incorporated this information earlier today on www.tapintoyourbeer.com for our flagship brands, Budweiser and Bud Light, and will be listing this for our other brands in the coming days.”
Earlier this year, sandwich chain Subway said it would drop Azodiacarbonamide, a chemical used in yoga mats, from its bread.
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