Washington - Drinkers will soon find out just how good Guinness is for them.
Diageo, the world's largest distiller, will disclose alcoholic content and nutritional information per serving for its iconic Irish stout, Smirnoff vodka and Tanqueray gin online and on product packaging as soon as possible, the London-based company said recently.
Diageo, which operates in more than 180 countries, is working with regulators globally and has already gained approval for a label on its products in the United States from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, the company said.
“Consumers are increasingly discerning about what's in their glass,” the distiller's chief executive, Ivan Menezes, said in an e-mailed statement. “We are committed to ensuring our consumers have the best possible information from which to make informed choices.”
In the European Union, alcoholic drinks are exempt from regulations to provide nutritional information on labels, Diageo said. Other foods must provide the information per 3.5-ounce portion, which Diageo said doesn't reflect the way alcohol is consumed. It's working with the EU to establish a standard alcohol unit across the 28 member states.
“This is a hugely positive step,” Ian Duncan, a member of the European Parliament's environment, public health and food safety committee, said in the statement. It will be a “major improvement on the confusing current system, where there are different measurements of alcohol units across the EU.”
Diageo said it is the first company to voluntarily disclose nutritional information on alcoholic drinks. The move “is a smart one that is out in front of the trend for packaged food and beverage products to disclose more about what is inside the product,” said Kenneth Shea, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence in New Jersey.
Bloomberg News/Washington Post