Industrial alcohol (top plastic drum) used to make low-quality wine is widely available at Kim Bien Market in District 5

Producers and distributors turn a deaf ear to recent public health alerts against low-quality liquors, while the public remains largely nonchalant.

“I just know that wine can cause headaches,” said Thanh, a worker of Hue city Phong Company.

Local authorities have reported 27 cases of alcohol poisoning, including nine resulting deaths in the past two weeks.

Health officials are blaming high levels of methanol for the scourge and warn that the cases are multiplying rapidly.

Methanol is a toxic chemical used as solvent, fuel, and in antifreeze solutions for motor vehicles. The allowable content of this substance in any alcoholic beverage is less than 0.1 percent.

Thanh was astonished upon being informed of the deaths. “Maybe I’ll drink less from now on,” he said.

After listening in on the conversation, some drinkers in the same pub with Thanh turned to order beer instead of wine. However, these patrons are among the few who have been updated about the danger associated with alcoholic beverages currently being sold.

Rampant violations

On any particular night, many pubs along the Thi Nghe Canal running from District 1’s Dien Bien Phu Bridge to Phu Nhuan District’s Kieu Bridge are crowded with customers.

A pub owner in the area said his sales often double on rainy days when customers like to drink while eating hotpots.

Another pub on District 11’s Ly Nam De Street, which sells pip banana wine at VND24,000 (US$1.45) a liter, empties around 100 liters of wine every three to four days, said the owner, who declined to be named.

Sales of alcoholic products in stores across the city seem unaffected by recent health authorities’ warnings after many wine products last week were found to contain high methanol content.

On Tuesday, HCMC Market Management seized around 420 wine bottles found with higher methanol contents than the acceptable level.

At Hoa Viet Company in District 8, officials seized 210 bottles bought from Saigon Food Company (Safoco). Many of Safoco’s products last week were discovered to have methanol contents 70-172 times higher than allowed.

On Monday, a distillery in Cu Chi District was found to lack business certificates or labeling of product quality. Three stores at Ben Thanh Market also failed to present inspectors with papers to verify the origin and quality of hundreds of wine bottles.

Last Sunday, officials found Dong Phat store in District 1 selling 12 wine bottles which expired in May and have no certificates of origin.

Meanwhile, raw materials to make low-quality wine continue to be sold widely.

Kim Bien Market in District 5 sells cooking-based and industrial alcohols at VND13,000-15,000 ($0.79-0.91) a liter for buyers to mix with water to make wine. Often one liter of these types of alcohol would make four liters of wine.

Aromatic spices and colorings are also available to make the mixture taste like rice wine, rum or whisky.

Pham Xuan Da from the Food Hygiene and Safety Office under the Ministry of Health said wines of low or dubious quality can be lethal when consumed.

Rice is currently priced at more than VND10,000 (60 cents) a kilogram and 10 kilograms can be made into seven liters of wine at most, Da said. “So there’s no way a liter of wine can be priced as low as VND5,000.”

“Deaths have occurred, but what about the number of people who suffer cirrhosis, kidney failure or brain damage from consuming such poison?” he said.

On Wednesday, HCMC Health Department summoned leading health experts on emergency aid and poison treatment across the city to set up a program to treat alcohol poisoning based on available equipment and facilities.

Source: Tuoi Tre