Avoid this common beer labeling error in your next COLA application

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) says one of the most common problems that triggers a COLA application to be sent back for correction is errors in the mandatory health warning statement. This includes little stuff like punctuation and formatting problems.

The TTB says the following health warning statement must appear on all alcohol beverages for sale or distribution in the United States that contain 0.5 percent or more alcohol by volume:

GOVERNMENT WARNING: (1) According to the Surgeon General, women should not drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy because of the risk of birth defects. (2) Consumption of alcoholic beverages impairs your ability to drive a car or operate machinery, and may cause health problems.

Some tips

• The words “GOVERNMENT WARNING” must appear in capital letters and in bold type.
• Don’t omit or change any punctuation marks (periods, commas, colon, parentheses).
• You may not include health warnings specifically related to alcohol consumption that are required by a foreign government.

See the regulations in 27 CFR part 16 for the full rules about how to meet the health warning statement labeling requirements and speed your label approval process.