Whisky Focus - Diageo To Provide Nutrition and Alcohol Content Info Per Alcohol Serving

Diageo have announced its commitment to provide consumers around the world with alcohol content and nutrition information per typical serve - a first for any alcohol company. The intention is to provide this information through Diageo's responsible drinking website www.DRINKiQ.com and www.knowyourdiageodrink.com and/or on-pack in a majority of Diageo's markets subject to local regulatory approval, as soon as practicable.

As you can see from the Lagavulin 16 year old and Talisker 10 year old examples I have selected below. not every whisky is the same when it come to nutrition but they do not vary a great deal when around the common ABV bottling strength of 40% to 46%. It was interesting to see whether age, ABV, type of cask used to mature the whisky made any significant difference to the nutrition of the whisky and it does appear that the higher the ABV the higher kcal, for example the Talisker 25 Year Old bottled at 58.8% has 82kcal per 25ml serving.

Ivan Menezes, Chief Executive, Diageo said:

"Diageo puts the consumer at the heart of everything we do. We are committed to ensuring our consumers have the best possible information from which to make informed choices about our products: this includes alcohol content and nutrition information per typical serve. Currently, there is no obligation to provide such information in markets worldwide, but we know that consumers are increasingly discerning about what’s in their glass. We want to provide alcohol and nutrition information that consumers can quickly understand, instead of expecting them to do the maths."

Providing information on the amount of alcohol per serve helps consumers understand how much they are drinking. This could help reduce the misuse of alcohol - a goal shared by regulators, consumer organisations, health professionals and alcohol companies alike.

Diageo will work with regulators around the world to agree the format of voluntary labels which provide information on alcohol content and nutrition per typical serve. In the United States, Diageo has gained regulatory approval for a voluntary "serving facts" panel for alcohol drinks that includes this nutrition and alcohol per serve information (see below for illustration).

In the European Union, alcohol drinks are currently exempt from providing nutrition information on labels, but other foodstuffs are required to do so per 100ml. The 100ml basis on its own does not reflect the reality of the way drinkers consume alcohol, and is therefore misleading. Diageo believes that consumer information for alcohol is best provided per typical serve, so that consumers can understand the alcohol and nutrition content of serves of different drinks, which vary in size across beer, wine and spirits. To this end, Diageo will work with the EU to establish a standard alcohol unit across the 28 Member States to provide an effective way of communicating alcohol content to consumers.

Ian Duncan, MEP for Scotland and Member of the European Parliament's Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee, commented:

"Today's announcement from Diageo is a fine example of their commitment to giving consumers the information that they need to make sensible decisions about alcohol. Providing both the nutrition and alcohol content of alcohol drinks, in an easy to understand 'per serving' format, is a major improvement on the confusing current system, where there are different measurements of alcohol units across the EU.

"This is a hugely positive step and one that the European Commission should reflect on, as it considers how to tackle harmful drinking"
 

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