Alcohol Healthwatch (AHW) recently issued a media release stating that 34% of alcohol products have no pregnancy warning label.

The NZ Alcohol Beverages Council was so concerned with this statement that we asked AHW directly[2] for information on which retail outlets and products were not complying with the Food Standards Australia New Zealand requirements (FSANZ)[3].

AHW said “there was wide-spread non-compliance regardless of the type or location of the premises and it was unhelpful to identify individual retailers as this existed on a widespread scale”.

“Due to the seriousness of AHWs claims, we conducted our own audit in one retail store and checked 1756 products. We found that 99.3%[4] of products had correct pregnancy warning labelling”[5], said Executive Director Virginia Nicholls.

• There were 20 products that did not have a pregnancy label. As these products were manufactured before 1 August 2023 they complied with FSANZ.
• Twelve products (0.7%) were not labelled correctly. One NZ product was incorrectly labelled and we believe this originated from a cancelled export order. The other products either missed the over-sticker process or the labels may have detached while in-store.

This retail group has now contacted the suppliers of the 12 products to ensure they relabel existing products instore and in their own stock holdings.

Why is the NZABC audit so different to the AHW factsheet?[6]

• Crucial information was missing from the AHW factsheet including the locations or products that were audited and the issues with the products that did not meet the FSANZ requirements. In the factsheet it said that photos were taken but none were provided to identify the exact pregnancy label issues.
• AHW state (p6) that “although 33.5% of the products did not have the correct pregnancy warning label, it is difficult to determine whether these are non-compliant they need to be manufactured after 1 August 2023, but the date of manufacture can be difficult for a layperson to determine.”

Why was this information not included in the AHW media release?

• AHW does not fully acknowledge FSANZ requirements in the factsheet. Ironically the only photos provided meet FSANZ requirements:
  • Pregnancy label near an industry label or message (such as drink responsibly);
  • Pregnancy label near links to an industry website;
  • Pregnancy label found on the bottom or base of the packaging/box.
• In Table 1 there are also a number of ‘unknowns’ – with one category as high as 19%. In the small print it says that “the majority of products in this category were multipacks where the full labelling of the individual units could not be seen.”
• AHW stated that the “purpose of gathering the information was to find out if the same problem exists in New Zealand as in Australia. In Australia 37% of alcohol products did not have the warning, or if they did, it was most commonly placed at the back of products”. Again this meets the FSANZ requirements.

“We recognise the limitation of space on the beer, wine and spirits labels/boxes and take great pride in meeting FSANZ’s requirements in spite of this constraint,” said Virginia.

“Its important to reiterate that we support the Health NZ advice to stop drinking alcohol if you are trying to get pregnant, could be pregnant or are pregnant”, said Virginia.

About the New Zealand Alcohol Beverages Council

The NZ Alcohol Beverages Council is a pan-industry group that comments publicly on matters relating to the beer, wine, spirits and beverages industry. It focuses on supporting responsible alcohol consumption and wants to see a fair and balanced debate on alcohol regulation in New Zealand.

Note:

[1] Media release - No pregnancy warning labels on alcohol 11 June 2025.pdf

[2] AHW replied (and I paraphrase) that “there was wide-spread non-compliance regardless of the type or location of the premises. They felt it was unhelpful to identify individual retailers as this existed on a widespread scale”.

AHW also said the “purpose of gathering the information was to find out if the same problem exists in New Zealand as in Australia. In Australia 37% of alcohol products did not have the warning, or if they did, it was most commonly placed at the back of products”.

[3] FSANZ have updated pregnancy alcohol labelling requirements since 1 August 2023. Every product manufactured after this time is required to have a pregnancy warning label for sale in Australia and NZ. There will still be a number of products that were manufactured before this time which do not need to have this label. Pregnancy warning labels downloadable files – Food Standards Australia New Zealand

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