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Beverage Grades, a Denver-based lab that analyzes wine, tested more than 1300 bottles primarily to find out the calorific counts. Kevin Hicks worked in the wine industry for 15 years before starting this lab. Apparently, there are very few federal labeling requirements in California that tell you the contents in the wine.
Hicks discovered that almost a quarter of the bottles he tested contained levels of arsenic higher than the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) maximum limit for drinking water of 10 parts per billion. In some cases he reportedly found up to four and five times that amount.
Although the complete list of high-arsenic wines studied hasn’t been disclosed, it includes the Two-Buck Chuck White Zinfandel from Trader Joe’s at three times the limit. A bottle of ‘Menage- a- Trois Moscato’ was four times the limit while Franzia Blush had five time the EPA limit for drinking water.
His attorney, Brian Kabateck says they took Hicks’ original test results to two separate labs and they “absolutely” stand up. And that’s what they argue in the class action lawsuit. They’re accusing more than 24 California winemakers and sellers of misrepresenting their wines as safe.
CBS News took the results reportedly to Allan Smith, associate director of the Arsenic Health Effects research program at UC Berkeley. Smith said the alleged 50 parts/ billion arsenic is carcinogenic and could be deadly over time.
There is no explanation or theory on why this might be happening but Hicks’ tests showed an interesting pattern. “The lower the price of wine on a per-liter basis, the higher the amount of arsenic,” he said.
It’s important to emphasise that the tests were based only on limits set for drinking water, that’s the only beverage with an arsenic limit set by the United States government. The Wine Group, one of the companies named in the suit reportedly says, “It would not be accurate or responsible to use the water standard as the baseline because people drink more water than wine”. The company also points out that the highest level of arsenic cited in the lawsuit is only half of Canada’s standard for wine, of 100 parts per billion.
Two other companies named in the suit responded to CBS News’ request for comment. Treasury Wine estates said its “brands are fully compliant with all relevant federal and state guidelines.” Trader Joe’s, distributor for the Charles Shaw Wines popularly known as Two-Buck Chuck said, “The concerns raised in your inquiry are serious and are being treated as such. We are investigating the matter with several of our wine producing suppliers.”
Smith says the wine makers ultimately need to determine where the arsenic might be coming from, but in the meantime, “it ought to have on the wine, ‘this wine contains arsenic.’”
In India, the Bureau of Indian Standards permissible limit is 10 parts per billion (of 0.01 mg/litre), in sync with the guidelines provided by the WHO. The amount of more than 50 parts per billion is considered highly toxic. But to put the things in proper perspective, it must be mentioned that several districts in different parts of India have been reported to have gone beyond this limit in the past, however.
According to the information received from some importers, FSSAI which is the government watchdog body to keep the quality of food, wines and spirits under check, does not test for arsenic. In any case, no one is known to have a shipment rejected because of arsenic
Source: Various Western Media Reports
Indian Wine Academy and delWine have always recommended quality wine drinking in moderation. The advisory continues. Hopefully, tests are being conducted by the Indian producers to assure wine drinkers that what they are drinking is bottled poetry and not slow poison. In any case the wine laws under preparation ought to have the limits prescribed. Hopefully, FSSAI will be pro-active and not merely a scourge-editor
We should also add that the lawsuit does not seem to have any legal basis to withstand the legal test. There are no limits prescribed by the California wine laws. Reportedly, OIV recommends the limit of 200 parts/ billion. This reeks of the Coke controversy in India a few years ago that ended in a whimper. In any case, we don't advise drinking cheap wines in general. Our viewers are advised discretion. In the meanwhile, there is bound to be a short terrm repercussion at least till the clarifications are carried out by the named producers. Who knows, we might be seeing a counter case filed in the near future. Till then, Cheers-editor
List of Wines in the Lawsuit (Source-Patch.com)
For an earlier Article on Arsenic in food, please visit:
Water and White Wine have Traces of Arsenic |