A fishy tale

Daniel Cooper finds out about the use of isinglass finings in brewing.

To label or not to label, that was the difficult decision facing the brewing industry when new food labelling directives were introduced by the European Commission in 2003. The EC wanted to tighten the labelling legislation surrounding food and drink so that the consumer, especially those with food allergies, had a greater level of information about not only the ingredients present in food and drink, but also those used in its production.

It is widely accepted that the prevalence of food allergies is increasing and, since there is no cure, those who suffer sensitivity to particular foods have to adopt management strategies to ensure that they do not consume even small amounts of the foods to which they react. To be able to do that food allergy sufferers need very precise information about the ingredients contained in the food and drink that they are likely to consume.

The labelling of most food and drink in the United Kingdom is governed by the provisions of the Food Safety Act 1990 and The Food Labelling Regulations 1996. In addition to these provisions the European directive 2000/13/EC set out more general requirements for the listing of ingredients used in food. However, this legislation contained a number of exemptions. A particular shortfall was a provision known as the 25 per cent rule which meant that if a compound food, such as a sponge cake used in a trifle, made up less than 25 per cent of the finished food the manufacturer was not legally obliged to label the ing.....

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By Daniel Cooper

Section : Beer Production

Page number : 62