Isinglas will be temporarily excluded from label declarations until November 25, 2007. The European Food Safety Agency will investigate further during this period of exemption.

Label declarations apply when ingredients are also an ingredient of a compound ingredient, a food additive or a component of a food additive or a processing aid or a component of a food processing aid.

Labelling declarations should be made on the product for retail purposes and in documents for commercial sales. Suppliers to brewers have responsibility in turn for declaration of allergenic ingredients in their products. Please note that additives and processing aids are often mixed with carriers or dilutents which may be one of the substances required to be declared.

The form of declaration should either be a list of specific ingredients (or in the name of the beverage sold) or include the terms “contains”.

Brewers shall label the specific name of the cereal (malt) used, not the generic term “cereal”. The specific gluten-containing cereals that may be used in production of beer are barley, wheat and rye. The alternative forms of wording used in the same field of vision as the name of the product would include:

- “barley”, “wheat” or “rye”

- “barley, wheat or rye malt”

- “malted, barley, wheat or rye”

- “malt from barley, wheat or rye”

If the name of the specific cereal appears either in the name of the product or in an ingredient list, there is no requirement to declare the presence of the cereal elsewhere on the label. There is no requirement to declare the terms “gluten” or coeliac disease”.

The directive contains no requirements as to the size and type of letters to be used in labelling. Labelling particulars must be easy to understand, clearly legible and indelible and be in a conspicuous place so as to be easily visible.