Guinness recalls non-alcoholic stouts amid safety fears

LONDON: Irish brewer Guinness said Wednesday that it is recalling cans of its recently launched non-alcoholic stout in Britain over contamination concerns.

The recall, which the brewer described as "precautionary" and related to a “microbiological contamination,” impacts the British market as the product was not yet on sale in Ireland.

Guinness 0.0, which was created at the company's St. James’s Gate brewery in Dublin. was launched last month amid much fanfare after a four-year development process.

The brewer, which is owned by the international beverage giant Diageo, said the issue does not impact any other Guinness variants or brands and it urged anyone with cans of Guinness 0.0 not to drink it.

The product was developed in response to what Guinness said was a growing consumer appetite for non-alcohol, lower-calorie beverages.

The early stages of brewing Guinness 0.0 mirror those of standard Guinness, using the same main ingredients — water, barley, hops and yeast. The key difference relates to the use of a cold filtration process to remove alcohol from the brew.

At the product's launch in October, Guinness said feedback from independent taste tests had exceeded expectations.