E-Malt.com News article: USA: Government shutdown halts debuting new products in beer and other industries

Brewers that are waiting for approval on labels for new products won't get the go-ahead during the government shutdown, STLToday.com reported on October 1.

The partial shutdown of the U.S. government that began on October 1 means Anheuser-Busch and other beer, wine and spirits producers won't be able to get labels approved, a necessary step in debuting new products or making changes to existing products' labels.

St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch, the North American headquarters for the world's largest brewer, AB InBev, said at any given time it has "a handful" of pending label applications and product formulas before the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, which oversees beer labels.

“A government shutdown could impact our ability to efficiently move those applications forward or submit new ones in the short-term,” an AB spokeswoman wrote in an email.

According to beer news website Beerpulse.com, the TTB has received 111,090 label requests for wine, beer and spirits labels since the start of the year, and the shutdown will halt the approval of about 400 labels daily.

A message on the TTB's website says: “Due to the lapse in government funding, only web sites supporting excepted functions will be updated unless otherwise funded.”

Producers can still file electronic payments and returns for federal excise taxes and operational reports, but online permits and label approvals won't be processed during the shutdown.

“TTB will suspend all non-excepted TTB operations, and no personnel will be available to respond to any inquiries, including emails, telephone calls, facsimiles, or other communications,” the bureau stated on its website. “TTB has directed employees NOT to report to work and they are prohibited by federal law from volunteering their services during a lapse in appropriations. Once funding has been restored, and the government shutdown is over, we will work to restore regular service as soon as possible.”


02 October, 2013