Tag: Beverage regulation

According to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, the FDA does not officially recognize a category for "sports drinks"; instead, they fall into broader classifications. This critical distinction is at the heart of the question, "Are sports drinks regulated by the FDA?" and determines how they are handled from a regulatory standpoint.

According to a 2014 Vox article, alcoholic beverages are the single exception to the rule that requires a Nutrition Facts label on virtually every packaged item in a US grocery store. For that reason, alcoholic drinks are the primary answer to the question: which beverage does not have a Nutrition Facts panel on the label? Understanding this exemption requires a look into U.S. regulatory history.

Despite contributing significantly to daily calorie intake, most alcoholic beverages do not carry mandatory nutrition information labels. The primary reason for this surprising omission lies in the complex history of U.S. beverage regulation, where alcohol was placed under the authority of a different government agency after Prohibition.

Did you know that pure, unflavored coffee is legally exempt from requiring a nutrition label in the United States? This surprising fact addresses the common question: why doesn't coffee have a nutrition label?, and is due to regulations governing foods with negligible nutritional content.