First Standard for Plasticizers in Liquor Due Soon

Recently, an expert from China National Food Industry Association (CNFIA) revealed that a new standard for plasticizers in liquor will be released within the following two months.

The new standard is expected to relax restrictions on plasticizers in liquor, whose contents would be higher compared with limits for DEHP (1.5 mg/kg), DINP (9.0 mg/kg) and DBP (0.3 mg/kg) set in GB 9685-2008. Those limited contents were also stressed by the MoH’s Notice 551 of 2011 in response to the outbreak of the infamous “plasticizer storm” in Taiwan. The maximum allowable quantities for plasticizers in liquor will be stipulated based on scientific resources, such as risk evaluation reports from international organizations, risk control measures taken by foreign countries and the current domestic technical production process of alcoholic beverages. 

Since Jiugui liquor was exposed to contain excessive plasticizers last year (see Chemlinked news on 26 Nov 2012), the safety of alcohol products has caught tremendous public concerns and also urged supervisory departments to dig out the reason and draft corresponding standard to regulate the industry. Through large-scale check, no producers of liquor are found to intentionally add plasticizers into their products, most of which are introduced from the plastic  pipelines. Under the surveillance and guide of the government, those plastic channels are changed already so the risk of plasticizers has been controlled effectively. Thus, it is not urgent to create a standard exclusively for liquor from the perspective of risk management.

However, the implementation of a specific standard is still necessary in order to provide a reference for competent authorities to carry out spot-check, push manufacturers to upgrade their production facilities as well as relieve consumers’ panic.