They say “contains less than 0.5%” because that’s the cutoff that makes something legally beer. It more than likely has none, much of the time. That’s just the law (US):
0.5% it’s beer and subject to laws < 0.5% it’s not beer, technically a soda or something
So they label it as <0.5% simply to show that it’s in the latter category
But the grocers just do whatever. Hell, half the brands don’t have required nutritional info (beer doesn’t need it, soda does) but the real problem is that:
The regulatory agencies are captured and don’t do shit anymore. TECHNICALLY the FDA should be stepping in and making them put full nutritional information on all the brands of NA “beer” and making sure it is labeled and sold like a soda.
But the larger companies that sell it are just misclassifying it and creating problems to be as lazy and risk avoidant as possible.
ricecake@sh.itjust.works 15 hours ago
Fruit juice naturally has around 0.5% alcohol. It’s just a side effect of wet sugar.
There’s no legal federal limit, it’s all state law. Some states go by that 0.5%. others go by a definition that includes “things sold as beer” essentially.
"You are holding a container. It is labeled beer. Do not give it to anyone under 21.”
Other times stores just assume and card everyone because it’s waaay easier than nuance and you’re not legally required to sell non-alcoholic beverages to minors.