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The amount of alcohol in a beverage is labelled as Alcohol By Volume (or ABV).

The meanings of the labels "non-alcoholic," "alcohol-free," and "dealcoholized" labels are not universal.

Understanding the meaning of these labels is critical for those who want to reduce or stop drinking alcohol.

The popularity of “alcohol-free” beverages has grown worldwide.1 When seeing the labels “alcohol-free”, “non-alcoholic”, and “dealcoholized,” on beverages, it is important to understand what they mean to make informed decisions about whether to drink them and how much. While these low-alcohol labels suggest very low to no alcohol content, the true meaning of these labels may surprise you and change how you choose to consume these beverages.

As it turns out, the meaning of these low-alcohol labels depends on where you live.2 In most countries, the label a manufacturer is allowed to use on their product is determined by a centralized government body (e.g., Canadian Food Inspection Agency, United States (U.S.) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB)). Each government body determines which labels may be used based on the alcohol by volume (ABV) of the beverage. For context, the typical ABV for beer is 5%, for wine is 12%, and for distilled........

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