On Thu, 28 Oct 2004 13:47:49 +0200, Mike Tommasi
wrote:

The question is, why is wine the only exception to the notion that all
food products should be labelled with a list of ingredients.

It appears that, in Europe at least, there are over 400 substances
that you can add to wine, many of them not very savoury.

I understand that the consumer is not always able to undestand the
meaning of these lists of ingredients. For example, many look for food
products that contain "natural flavouring" as opposed to "artificial
flavouring", thinking that "natural" means, for example, that an
apricot drink actually has had a flavour added that was directly
derived from the fruit. Nothing is further from the truth of course,
natural flavouring is a chemical made from precursors that are
obtained from natural sources, but it is an artificial flavour.

Some countries oblige wineries to mention that a wine may "contain
sulfites", but no quantities are given.

Is it desirable to know what went into a wine? I think so. I have
spent enough time around wineries to realize that in many even
reputable places all kinds of things are done to wine to make it fit
into a market mold. Acidification, sugaring, enzymes, correctors,
treatments using potassium cyanide or ferric chloride and other nasty
things, flavours, wood chips, water, etc..

Of course, there are also wineries that are proud to use a lighter
approach, at most using some sulfites before bottling to protect the
wine.

What do you think? List of ingredient and procedures? Or not?

In the USA, ingredients are required to be listed on a label only if
they exceed a certain threshold, which varies according to each
particular ingredient. For example, wines that contain less than a
certain proportion of sulfites are not required to carry the phrase
"Contains Sulfites" on the label. Of course in the EU the phrase is
not required at all regardless of the proportion, leading many people
to tell me in all sincerity that European winemakers don't use
sulfites and that that is why they didn't get headaches from drinking
wines on their latest trip to Europe but still get them from American
wines.

Also, it is possible for a food to carry on the label the phrase "Fat
[insert just about anything else here]-Free when in fact it contains a
measurable amount of fat, but the fat content is low enough to qualify
for this phrasing.

I'm not sure exactly how this plays into your question but it's
something to be considered.

Vino