VICTORIA, BC – Craft beer consumer advocacy group CAMRA BC has announced that it has contacted several B.C. government representatives and other provincial policy makers to encourage them to start enforcing laws that are in place to prevent licensed establishments from misleading customers about the serving sizes of draught beer.
Falling under the umbrella of the FUSS (Fess Up to Serving Sizes) campaign launched by CAMRA Vancouver in 2011, the letter from CAMRA was sent to Attorney General Suzanne Anton, Parliamentary Secretary John Yap, LCLB General Manager Douglas Scott, NDP Alcohol Portfolio Critic Shane Simpson and Premier Christy Clark, reminding them all about the existing serving size laws, and asking them to take steps to ensure they are more actively enforced.
“For too long has there been a discrepancy in what size a ‘sleeve’ of draught beer truly is and consumers are getting taken advantage of by establishments that do not to publish their serving volumes,” says CAMRA BC Advocacy Committee Representative and Powell River Branch President, Paddy Treavor, in a statement. “We have written to policy makers, urging them to consider the importance of consumer education with regards to alcohol and how it relates to consumer choice as well as public safety.”
Treavor also notes that in addition to not providing patrons with serving size information, many bars also neglect to clearly reveal the strength of the beers that are being served. “Not knowing the strength of what you just drank makes it difficult to determine if ordering one more is a good idea,” Treavor says, “so making it mandatory for bars to publish the details of a beer’s strength and serving size would help avoid over-consumption.”
“This legislation exists with good reason and enforcing it is imperative to maintaining public safety while helping bartenders to avoid over-serving at the same time,” adds Adam Chatburn, President of the CAMRA BC Vancouver Branch. “A simple solution is to phase in the requirement for any establishment that serves beer on tap to do so in glassware with its serving size marked and certified, as is common in many European countries.”
For more details on the FUSS campaign, see the information page on the CAMRA Vancouver website.