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Department of Health offers public free tests for potentially poisonous rice wine

In response to a series of deaths caused by fraudulent rice wine, the Department of Health (DOH) announced yesterday it would make available free tests for the wine in local health departments beginning today.

"People can bring their rice wines to local health departments to test whether their wines are poisonous. The service is free of charge," Bureau of Food Sanitation Director-General Chen Lu-hung (陳陸宏) said at a press conference.

The DOH will also provide 200 free wine tests in its lobby from 10am to 5pm today. The tests take about an hour to complete, Chen said.

Since four fatal cases allegedly caused by rice wine containing methanol were reported in Ilan County in the middle of this month, the number of deaths has increased to nine as of Saturday.

"People who are in the habit of drinking rice wine and have recently shown symptoms [of poisoning] should go immediately to the hospital for tests," Chen said.

The symptoms, according to Chen, include headaches, nausea, stomach aches, fatigue, blurred vision and breathing difficulties.

"These are typical symptoms of acute methanol poisoning," Chen said.

"When these symptoms appear, patients should be forced to vomit immediately and avoid exposing their eyes to light. They must be sent to hospital as soon as possible," Chen said.

People who have been drinking rice wine and shown symptoms of dizziness, drowsiness, tinnitus, diminished eyesight and digestion difficulties should also seek medical examination, according to Chen.

He said these are symptoms of chronic methanol poisoning.

"All wine manufactured through fermentation contains low levels of methanol," Chen said.

In the normal manufacturing process of rice wines, yeast is used for fermentation.

"However, to save costs, some wine manufacturers use industrial alcohol, which is usually not for consumption. Industrial alcohol contains high levels of methanol," he said.

Chen said a person could die after ingesting more than 30ml of methanol.

The Department of National Treasury has made available a list of government-authorized wine producers

"The DOH strongly encourages people to check brands on the Web site before they purchase rice wine," Chen said.

The DOH has asked the Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology to design wine reagents that can reveal in two minutes whether rice wines contain excessive methanol.

"Each test will be sold for NT$25. But it might take some time for the DOH to produce the reagents," Chen said.

Chen stressed the most important thing is to find out the factories that produce counterfeit rice wines.

After the fatal cases were reported in Ilan, the police have also seized counterfeit rice wines in Kaohsiung, Taichung and Nantou.

The Department of National Treasury lists government-authorized wine producers at www.dnt.gov.tw/dbmode.
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