Regulations: Truth in Booze

What do yeast, egg white and fish glue have in common? They are ingredients of some wines, though a customer would not realize it from reading the labels on the bottles. Thinking that people should know what they are drinking, Federal Judge John Pratt ruled in Washington last week that beer, wine and liquor manufacturers must begin revealing ingredients by April.

That rule was proposed by the Carter Administration in 1980, but dropped under President Reagan, who favors reducing regulations. The Administration was then sued by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which argued that many Americans are allergic to some ingredients used by brewers and distillers. For example, the center said, people could have a reaction to the sulfites often found in beer and wine or the corn in liquors.

Concern about the contents of alcoholic beverages seemed to have some foundation last week, when the Villa Banfi, the largest U.S. wine importer, had to recall up to 400,000 cases of Riunite wine because some of it contained traces of diethylene glycol, a chemical found in antifreeze. Austrian vintners were accused last summer of using that ingredient to sweeten wine.