A shopper passes by a beer section in a Seoul supermarket on April 19, 2021. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Jan. 12 (Korea Bizwire) — A new policy will require labels on liquor products to include nutritional information, South Korea’s antitrust regulator said Monday.
The Korea Fair Trade Commission announced that it plans to introduce a new policy that requires alcoholic drinks to specify the product’s calories and nutritional information next month.
‘Alcoholic drinks’ include soju (a Korean distilled beverage made from grain), beer, makgeolli (a traditional grain-based alcoholic drink), wine and other drinks that contain alcohol.
It has been consistently pointed out that liquor products fail to provide information on calories and nutrition, despite their rising level of consumption in the country.
Some beers include the term ‘light’ to indicate low calories, but consumers had no way to confirm this due to a lack of calorie information.
According to a 2019 survey conducted by the Korea Consumer Agency, the average caloric value per bottle of soju was the highest among alcoholic beverages at 408 calories, followed by a bottle of rice wine (372 calories) and a can of beer (236 calories).
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
