Sir, - If I buy a bottle of pure apple juice, the manufacturer is obliged to list all the ingredients and their nutrient value. However, if I buy a bottle of cider, there is nothing to tell me what I am drinking.
If I buy a bottle of non-alcoholic beer, the ingredients are all listed, yet an alcoholic bottle of beer tells me nothing. Indeed, I have yet to come across any alcoholic drink that carries any information about its ingredients.
It is surely strange that a part of the beverage industry that carries certain inherent risks (alcohol) falls outside the remit of consumer protection. Is the unsuspecting coeliac not entitled to know that whiskey contains wheat, and should we not all be protected from another anti-freeze-in-the-wine scandal? - Yours, etc.,
Jonathan Irwin, Ballitore, Co Kildare.