British multinational alcoholic beverages company, Diageo has expanded its nutritional labeling initiative to Ireland's number one selling beer making Guinness the first brand to supply full information about nutrition and alcohol on 500ml cans in the Republic of Ireland.

The new labels, designed to help consumers understand what's in their glass, provide consumers with nutritional information on contents including calories, carbohydrates, protein and sugar as well as grams of alcohol per serve and warnings on drink driving and consuming alcohol during pregnancy.

Guinness is the first global beer brand to provide consumers with this information, in a major expansion by Diageo of the hugely successful consumer led initiative that was rolled out in Ireland last year on Smithwicks.

This expansion is part of Diageo's commitment to their consumers to provide them with information that will empower them to make informed choices on what they drink.

All 500ml Guinness can labels will contain warnings on drink driving and consuming alcohol during pregnancy. Consumers will also see that a 500ml can of Guinness contains 17 grams of alcohol along with nutritional information.

The equivalent information will also be provided for a 100ml serve. The labeling is part of the Diageo Consumer Information Standards (DCIS) launched last year and which will be rolled out on all Diageo products in Ireland in the next 12 months.

Diageo developed the DCIS based on in-depth research of more than 1,500 consumers around the world, to ensure the label designs reflected the way consumers want to receive - and can understand - information on alcohol content.

“Irish consumers want to make informed choices and increasingly they want to know what's in their glass. At Diageo, we take enormous pride in our ability to listen to our consumers and bring them the great products they enjoy with the clear, concise and accurate information they can use to make the right choice for them,” says Diageo Ireland Country Director Mr. Oliver Loomes.

“The new Guinness labels are part of our on-going commitment to engage with and empowering Diageo consumers so they have the tools to make positive and informed choices about what they drink. While this is a global standard and will eventually feature across all brands in all markets the decision to expand to Guinness 500ml cans means that almost 40% of the Irish beer market will be covered by the new labeling standard, making Ireland a market leader in this regard.”

The Diageo consumer research found that as well as good design, which is key to how information is found and understood, consumers preferred information on alcohol per serve, calories per serve, sugar content, allergens and brand facts.

Diageo has made a global commitment to provide locally accurate additional consumer information on its labels in all the markets it operates in, making it the first global alcohol company to offer such information.

The new consumer standard is now also available on Smithwicks, Johnnie Walker Red Label, and on Diageo's new Irish Whiskey, Roe&Co. Diageo Ireland hopes the labeling standards which were launched last year will be rolled out across the entire portfolio over the next 12 months.