25 August, 2008 - Spirit production at LIHO Blanice was suspended recently after Czech authorities found dangerously high levels of methanol in samples of its beverages, forbidding the distribution of stocked valued at CZK15 million (EUR 615,000)
In some cases the methanol level recorded was over four times the safety limit laid down by the European Union.
The Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority (CAFIA) said “The European directives allow 500 milligrams of methanol per litre of absolute alcohol; however appliances in case of spirits from the company LIHO Blanice measured as much as 1880 milligrams.”
The food safety organisation immediately issued an alert to consumers about purchasing LIHO Blanice’s spirits. A CAFIA spokesman said the incidents of contamination were so “extensive” that Customs Officers from Tabor were drafted in to assist.
CAFIA said LIHO Blanice uses the spirits for its own products as well as selling them to other companies to use in theirs. However, the company was unable to provide fully accurate records of which companies had purchased the spirits.
A CAFIA statement said: “CAFIA not only banned further production of consumer spirit for food purposes, but also suspended sale of all spirits that were stored in the company at the time of control. Nearly 57 thousand litres of decanted spirits are concerned in total value exceeding eight million Czech crowns. The producer cannot further distribute even the spirits which have not been decanted from production tanks yet; therefore the total value of these goods is estimated at 15 million crowns.”
The body said its investigation is on-going.