The drinks industry can expect yet more labelling regulations following last week's announcement that bottles and cans of alcohol should carry health warnings.

Industry watchdog The Portman Group confirmed it was in talks with the DoH over further labelling changes following last week's voluntary agreement between industry and government.

So far the new guidelines have only specified that labels should include the unit content per glass and bottle, government safe drinking guidelines and the Drinkaware website.

Warnings of the dangers of alcohol to pregnant women should also be included. However the guidelines have stopped short of advocating tobacco-style labelling. "Unit information combined with sensible guidelines will make it easier for people to stick to recommended limits," said public health minister Caroline Flint.

Currently the agreement is voluntary and the situation will be monitored until the end of next year, by which time Flint said she expected "all alcoholic drinks labels to include alcohol unit information."

So far, however, many of the UK's larger drinks suppliers, including Bacardi-Martini, Scottish & Newcastle UK and Diageo, have yet to sign up. Diageo said while "labelling has a clear role, it will only be effective if it is part of a coherent package of consumer communication". Its own guidelines meant its labels already had most of the information, it said.

S&N said that while it hadn't as yet signed up, its labels already carried four of the five elements. "In terms of the fifth element, a Foetal Alcohol Syndrome warning, S&N will look at this in more detail," it said.

The DoH said it had "no specific goal" in terms of the number of companies it wanted to sign up by the end of 2008 but promised a major cross-government campaign from 2008, "a large part of which will be about raising unit awareness".

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