Huh? Yes, that is correct and a warning such as this will be on U.S. wine labels if new government regulations are put in place requiring the disclosure of potential allergens. A lot of additives are used in the winemaking process such as the traditional egg whites, a milk protein and sometimes fish guts (sorry if you are eating) for fining (clarifying) wine. The new draft regulations would require labels for wine sold in the U.S. to carry a “contains” notice for each of these substances, if they are used.
I’m all for truth in labeling, particularly with the use of appellations of origin, but I find this to be ridiculous as it will confuse a lot more customers than it would warn. Since egg whites have been used for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years in wine production as a fining agent, I doubt allergic reactions to these substances is a wide spread concern. If you sometimes have an allergic reaction to red wines, post to the comments.
What’s next, “this wine may cause headaches”?
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Silly, stupid and sad. I want to know if they have record of any deaths due to these clarifiers. Next thing the you know the histamines in redwine will have to be labeled! Don’t we have bigger issues right now in the world?
What is stupid is your ignorance about the severity of allergies. In reality, a minute amount of egg can cause a major allergic reaction, regardless of how many thousands of years it has been used.
I have a 6-month old daughter who has severe egg allergy. She kept getting sicker and sicker and finally I eliminated every single thing from my diet except turkey, squash and brown rice. Adding foods in slowly I am now able to eat somewhat normally, but occasionally she will get very very sick. If food labeling was more accurate and didn't contain secret words to disguise ingredients, she would not get sick at all.
If a certain wine contains egg, I want to know about it.
Christel: I understand your point about food allergies but almost every fine wine will have egg whites used for fining. I just was commenting about how such labeling will cost the wine industry billions of dollars and only benefit a very small minority of people who already know what to avoid. My advice is to only drink organic, unfined wines.
How would printing a few extra words on a wine label cost the wine industry billions? Surely they know exactly what they put in it so there is no need for a huge battery of expensive tests.
I was ignorant about the use of these clarifiers until last night I saw it on a bottle label. A quick search and hey presto and I now know a little more than before. True firstly I was confused, but it made me go out and find the answer. Thats a good thing. I don’t see why wine should be the exception to the very important rule of warnings about potential allergines. It is hardly ‘ridiculous’ or ‘silly, stupid and sad’.