WASHINGTON – The Treasury Department last week said that beer, wine and spirits companies can use nutritional labels like those on food packaging on their bottles and cans, the Associated Press reports.

Package labels for alcohol companies have never before been approved and the Treasury’s announcement makes the labels voluntary, so it will be up to each company to decide whether to use them on their products. 

The decision is the first step as the Alcohol and Tobacco Trade and Tax Bureau (TTB) considers final rules on alcohol labels. Last week’s announcement comes after a decade of lobbying by both liquor companies and consumer groups, whose goals differed sharply.

The liquor companies sought to advertise low calories and carbohydrates in their products, while consumers groups wanted alcoholic drinks to carry the same transparency as packaged foods.

"This is actually bringing alcoholic beverages into the modern era," said Guy Smith, an executive vice president at Diageo, maker of Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff, Jose Cuervo and Tanqueray.

Diageo asked the bureau in 2003 to allow the company to add that information to its products as low-carbohydrate diets were gaining in popularity. 

Smith said he expects Diageo gradually to put the labels on all of its products. "It's something consumers have come to expect," Smith said. "In time, it's going to be, why isn't it there?"

Beer companies are expected to pass on the voluntary label ruling, and winemakers fear the labels would ruin the aesthetics of their bottles.