Wine controls gazetted

Press, 7 March 1983, Page 15

Wine controls gazetted

Parliamentary reporter Quality controls for the wine industry, which will apply to all wines produced during and after the 1983 vintage, are included in amendments to the Food and Drug Regulations recently gazetted. Table wines will be made only from grape juice and permitted additives and dessert wines, cocktail wines, aperitifs, vermouths, and wine liqueurs will be produced from table wines, spirit, and permitted additives.

The previous category of "flavoured” wine has been replaced by a wine-based drink standard.

The changes have been made at the request of the Wine Institute which wants the industry to be recognised as observing the highest international standards. The main regulations over the labelling of foods have been amended to require the listing of ingredients as well as date-marking and storage instructions for goods with a short shelf-life. These will come into effect in January, 1985. The Minister of Health, Mr Malcolm, said that having a two-year period before full implementation would allow food manufacturers time to examine the regulations and advise the Health Depart-

ment if any unexpected problems seemed likely to emerge. It would also allow manufacturers time to prepare new labels and to use existing stock before the changeover date. Almost all foods sold Dy retail would then have to specify the ingredients by weight at the time of manufacture, the Minister said. This information was readily available on almost all imported food and had been provided voluntarily by some New Zealand manufacturers for some time.