NORWALK, CT, December 16, 2009 – Diageo, the world’s leading spirits, beer and wine company, commemorates the sixth anniversary of the December 16, 2003 petition to allow a standard “Alcohol Facts” panel on its beverage alcohol products. The petition, which was filed by the National Consumers League, and 75 other public health and consumer organizations, and was then backed in large part by Diageo, called on the U.S. Treasury Department’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) to permit labeling with standard serving information such as alcohol per serving, servings per container, and calories, carbohydrates, fat and protein per serving, in order to help consumers make more informed choices about their consumption of alcohol.
Currently, alcohol beverages are the only consumable product that has been largely prohibited from including Serving Facts information on all of their labels. The TTB has not allowed Diageo and other beer, wine and spirits companies to voluntarily provide consumers with alcohol per serving information on a Serving Facts label on the bottle. In early 2005, the TTB announced an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking and opened a public comment period on the whether this information should be permitted on labels. Despite overwhelming support for this information, nearly five years later there has been no ruling and the petition remains unanswered.
“Diageo remains wholly committed to providing consumers with this very important product information so that they can make the most informed choices about what they drink,” said Guy L. Smith, Executive Vice President, Diageo North America. “Consumers have made it clear they want to know basic facts about their beverages, and we want to give them that information. We are calling on the TTB to rule on this important matter so we can begin providing Serving Facts information on the bottles of our consumers’ favorite products.”
Diageo has taken the lead by providing serving facts on brand websites, and creating www.DRINKiQ.com, a website dedicated to making available useful information about alcohol from a range of experts, including detailed nutritional, allergen, and alcohol content information about Diageo’s products.