Alcohol and Pregnancy

The Brewers of Europe has a clear message that women should avoid alcohol during pregnancy and when breastfeeding, to avoid the risk of health complications for the unborn child and newborn baby. The Brewers of Europe finalised in the first year of the Beer Pledge the toolkit to assist members with understanding the issue of drinking during pregnancy and the potential actions that could be considered by brewers to help address the problem.

Below is a selection of the activities being supported by both associations and companies to address the issue. Since brewers themselves are not best placed to inform women of the risks of drinking during pregnancy, except by promoting awareness of the overall message, in most cases the brewing sector works in collaboration and support of doctors groups, NGOs and specialists in the area.

Major brewer signatories to the Global CEO commitments have also made a global commitment to inform consumers of the message to avoid consuming alcohol during pregnancy. This will likely result in the further dissemination and increased awareness of alcohol and pregnancy pictograms which already appear on a number of drinks’ containers across Europe. More information on this is available in the Consumer Information chapter.