Want to Get Your Product to Market Faster? Double-Check that the Ingredients are Allowed for Use in Alcohol Beverages
When you’re coming up with ideas for your next great product, please double-check that its ingredients may be used in alcohol beverages. Recently we’ve seen an uptick in the number of Formula and Certificate of Label Approval (COLA) Applications for alcohol beverage products containing substances that are not allowed for use in alcohol beverages – specifically they are not approved as food or color additives and are not generally recognized as safe (GRAS) for that use.
You may generally use any substance that is GRAS or an approved food or color additive for its intended use in making your beverage. However, if the regulatory status of an ingredient is unclear, we may ask that you provide documentation that supports that your intended use of the ingredient does not violate the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act). The U.S. Food and Drug Administration administers the FD&C Act and has jurisdiction over substances added to food, such as GRAS substances and approved food and color additives.
Double-checking to make sure all the ingredients you add to your product are allowed for use in alcohol beverages will help streamline the approval process, ensuring that your product can be available for sale as soon as possible.
How to Determine Whether a Substance is Allowed for Use in Alcohol Beverages and Next Steps
Please see TTB’s guidance for determining if and how ingredients may be used in your product.
Once you’ve made sure the ingredients in your new product are allowed for use in alcohol beverages, the next step is to find out whether adding those ingredients means you’ll need to submit a beverage alcohol formula. You may use TTB’s online formula tool to determine if you need to apply for a formula for your wine, distilled spirit, or malt beverage.
Note: Substances added to wine classified as “standard wine” must be authorized for use under 27 CFR § 24.246 or administratively approved by TTB in addition to being GRAS or approved food or color additives for their intended use. Please see TTB’s Wine Treating Materials page for more information on this.
TTB to Present at National Alcohol Beverage Control Association (NABCA) Legal Symposium
 We will be participating on three panels at NABCA’s 30th Annual Symposium on Alcohol Beverage Law and Regulation on Monday, March 12:
- Promoting Competition in the American Economy: One Year Later
- CBMA Import Changes
- TTB Reporting & Tax Considerations in Buy/Sell Agreements
Representatives will be on hand throughout the conference to answer questions and connect with attendees.
Visit Us at Eastern Winery Exposition!
 If you plan to attend the Eastern Winery Exposition in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, come visit us at the TTB table (Booth 1) March 15-16. We’ll have TTB specialists on hand to provide assistance and answer your most pressing questions. So whether you have questions about an application, want to get an answer to inform a new label design, or just say hello, come see our team!
TTB Career Opportunities: Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Specialist and Auditor (Financial)
Are you interested in a career at an agency that ranks in the top 10% of Best Places to Work in the Federal Government? If yes, consider applying for these TTB jobs.
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