Budweiser & Coors Light Companies Agree to Post Ingredients Online

With pressure from Food Babe and her followers, brewing company Anheuser-Busch, makers of Budweiser, as well as MillerCoors (behind Miller Lite and Coors Lite) have agreed to publish all ingredients for some of their products online in an act of respectable transparency.

Using social media and an online petition, more than 43,000 signatures were gathered in order to have some ‘straight talk’ with Anheuser-Busch about the ingredients in their products. MillerCoors recently responded to a similar request.

The Chicago Tribune picked up the story and echoed Vani Cari’s (the Food Babe) argument that many beers contain questionable ingredients and ‘controversial additives.’

USA Today also reported on the success. They quoted Cari, “I thought beer was just hops, water, yeast, malt and barley.”

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer research organization, applauded the petition, noting in a statement Wednesday that it petitioned and then sued the U.S. government to reveal beer ingredients three decades ago.

“The government used to publish a list of permitted ingredients in beer, which included food dyes, foam enhancers, preservatives, sweeteners, enzyme, and chill-proofing agents,” the organization said. “Ingredients like propylene glycol alginate, Red 40, caramel coloring, and others should certainly be listed on labels in case consumers are concerned about allergens or simply troubled by beers that contain a raft of additives.” 

Read: Chipotle Nearly Eliminates All GMOs

According to Cari, beer can contain:

• GMO corn
• GMO corn syrup
• GMO rice
• GMO dextrose
• Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) – a highly addictive and carcinogenic substance that has been found to be toxic at one dose.
• Propylene glycol (a chemical found in anti-freeze)
• Caramel coloring (made from carcinogenic ammonias)
• Calcium Disodium EDTA (made from formaldehyde, sodium cayanide, and Ethylenediamine)
• Fish bladders
• Stabilizers linked to intestinal issues
• Food colorings made from petroleum and linked to hyper activity and learning disabilities
• BPA Bisphenol A in beer can liners – a toxic substance which is made from plastic and causing epidemic obesity

Companies are not currently legally required to disclose the ingredients for alcohol. Congress passed the Alcohol Administration Act of 1935, which is still in force today. Recognizing the tax potential of alcoholic beverages, Congress assigned their regulation to the Treasury Department. Now the Treasury’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) sets rules for alcohol labels.