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A prominent Italian magazine revealed police were investigating
the cheap end of the market for tainting wine with harmful chemicals,
like sulfuric and hydrochloric acid.
But a prosecutor investigating adulterated wine said
that there was no evidence of dangerous chemicals involved, just water
and sugar. Brussels confirmed it had received similar reassurances from
Rome.
"The Italian authorities have informed us that
their investigations have confirmed that this is purely a case of adulteration
of wine and that there is no health risk," Nina Papadoulaki, an EU
Health Commission spokeswoman said.
"In fact the problem concerns the addition of water
and (beet) sugar."
L'Espresso magazine had quoted investigators as saying
70 million liters of the adulterated wine may have been put on the market,
with price tags of between 70 cents and 1 euro
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