Anheuser-Busch has for the first time revealed the ingredients of two of its beers. The brewing giant has posted the list of what goes into Budweiser and Bud Light on its website in response to an online petition from food blogger Vani Hari, also known as “The Food Babe.”
Hari encourages people to know what is in the food they eat and to make healthy choices, and teaches them how to lives an organic lifestyle. During her effort to get beer makers to inform the public about what they put in their products, she started the petition at FoodBabe.com/beer.
“Within 24 hours we received over 50-thousand signatures, but around the 40-thousand mark I received an e-mail, a tweet and a phone call from the head of communications at Anheuser-Busch,” says Hari. The company invited her to tour its St. Louis brewery and indicated that, “they are going to now release all ingredients on the website.”
Anheuser-Busch has posted the ingredients of Budweiser and Bud Light on its website, tapintoyourbeer.com, with a promise that other brands’ ingredient lists will follow.
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“As American consumer needs evolve, we want to meet their expectations,” wrote Terri Vogt, Vice President of Communications at Anheuser-Busch. “Therefore, we are working to list our beer ingredients on our website, just as you would see for other food and non-alcohol beverage producers. We are beginning immediately, having incorporated this information earlier today onwww.tapintoyourbeer.com for our flagship brands Budweiser and Bud Light, and will be listing this for our other brands in the coming days.”
“Anheuser-Busch was not trying to pull the wool over anybody’s eyes,” says Hari, who appreciates the company’s professionalism and quick response, but she wants to see more of those product ingredient lists, and quickly.
“I’m not sure why they’re not up right now. It would be a quick website change,” says Hari. “I’m a computer scientist. I know how to do this information. They’re a multi-billion-dollar company. I’d like to see them work pretty quick.”
According to Anheuser-Busch’s website both Budweiser and Bud Light contain water, barley malt, rice, yeast and hops.
Hari hopes other beer makers will also reveal their ingredients, but she would really like to see the government change its practices. Right now, the Treasury Department regulates beer, so manufacturers don’t have to list ingredients on labels as do the makers of products regulated by the Food and Drug Administration.
