Kombucha makers warned over alcohol content and health claims
The mass-market appeal of kombucha hangs in the balance as manufacturers and federal regulators remain at odds over alcohol content and health claims. Kombucha, a tea brewed with yeast and bacteria, contains trace amounts of alcohol that may sometimes exceed federal laws on labelling of beverages with more than 0.5% alcohol. The US Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau recently issued warnings to several manufacturers for exceeding those limits, sometimes by just a few tenths of a percentage point, citing consumer information for health or religious reasons. Many in the industry, which is expected to grow three-fold to $1.8 billion from 2015 to 2020, see this as counterproductive and are asking for new testing methods or exemptions. Manufacturers also remain under scrutiny by the FDA for dubious health claims lacking scientific proof.