Major Producer to List Nutritional Info of Labels

March 20, 2015 – British drinks giant, Diageo, has just announced it would begin publishing nutritional and alcoholic content per serving on its labels and on line.  It is being applauded in the U.K. trade as well as in Europe where it will take longer to implement.  The voluntary move is in response to consumers’ growing interest in readily having this information available, and understandable, and it is seen as a way to encourage moderate drinking.

The labeling will be on all products, worldwide eventually but is expected to start in the United States, possibly in the next few months.  For some years, Diageo has been working with the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau and has obtained label approval.  Per serving information will include calories, fat content and alcohol by volume.

Consumers have become more health conscious and are used to having nutritional information on foodstuffs, but the government is also pushing a healthier lifestyle and now requires restaurants with 20 outlets or more to list calories on food items and since the end of 2014, to list calories for drinks ordered with food.  By developing these labels now, Diageo has gotten ahead of what is surely coming down the pike, and as the biggest alcohol beverage company in the world, it will force others to follow suit.

The brand most likely to be first with the new label is the biggest seller in the U.S., Smirnoff vodka

A sample of how Diageo’s wine label will look in the U.S.