The High Court ruling on Sovio Wine

Tuesday 3 March 2009

The Food Standards Agency welcomes yesterday’s High Court judgement that confirmed the Agency acted lawfully when in September 2007 it ordered stocks of Sovio Wine to be held at a warehouse. This Movement Control Notice meant that the wine products could not be sold.

The FSA decided to make the order because the wine had been made using an unauthorised method and did not comply with labelling rules that were in place in 2007. An independent assessor also found that the product breached the regulations in those ways and said that the order should stand. The company then decided to take this to the High Court, which ruled yesterday that the FSA had acted lawfully.

Sarah Appleby, Head of Wine Standards at the Food Standards Agency, said: 'The FSA welcomes today's ruling on Sovio Wine. The FSA is not trying to ban low alcohol wine but it is a top priority of the Agency to ensure that consumers are given accurate information about food and drink products to ensure that the public is not misled. We will continue to work closely with industry to help them understand and comply with the law.'

In October 2008, the European Commission agreed that European Union wines that use different experimental techniques to reduce the alcohol content could be marketed across Europe as long as producers followed a number of conditions.