New EU labelling for allergens

The European Union is planning to implement new allergen labelling requirements for wine from the 1 July 2012. The proposed new law will alert consumers to wines which have used milk or egg products in the fining process and have not tested negative for residues using a technique with a detection limit of 0.25mg/l.

Wine from the 2011 vintage and earlier will be exempt from the latest EU labelling rules, as will wines from this year’s harvest if they are labelled before the end of the June.

If both allergens, together with sulphites, are present the phrase “Contains sulphites, milk, egg” will appear on labels. A simple logo has been developed for wines marketed in different countries with different languages.