G&Ts all round! EU rules mixer can still be called ‘tonic’

GIN and tonics may be to blame for many a hangover – but rarely anything as dramatic as the four-year headache they’ve triggered in Brussels.

At last, though, the agony is over, after a ruling by the European Commission secured the future of the traditional tipple.

Brussels has agreed that drink makers can continue to use the term ‘tonic’ – despite the fact modern tonic water has no beneficial health effects.

It wanted to stop firms using the term because the mixer no longer contains enough quinine – a bitter chemical which helps protect against malaria – to have medical benefits. But now, after four years of wrangling, the commission has decided that ‘tonic’ can be applied as a ‘generic descriptor’ – or when a name implies a positive health effect but consumers do not generally make the connection.

Manufacturers feared that without the ruling, regulators in member states could require a change to labelling, making it more costly and complex to sell across the bloc.

Gavin Partington, director-general of the British Soft Drinks Association, said: ‘Whatever happens with Brexit, at least we can now relax in the knowledge that the future of the quintessentially British gin and tonic is secured.’

The ruling, published in the Official Journal of the European Union, concludes a long campaign to persuade Brussels it was a traditional product.

Studies show you would have to drink 300 gin and tonics to help treat malaria today.