By Dixie Farley
Urethane (ethyl carbamate) is a chemical that forms during fermentation of alcoholic beverages. If the fermented product is heated, as in "baking" sherry and distilling bourbon, urethane levels increase. Urethane causes cancer in animals, but the extent of its risk to people is at present unclear. Legal responsibility for alcoholic beverages is shared by FDA and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF). FDA ensures safety under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act; ATF regulates manufacture, composition, labeling and advertising under the Federal Alcohol Administration Act.
In November 1985, news reports from Canada stated that authorities there had found urethane in certain wines and distilled spirits. U.S. concern led FDA, ATF and industry to look for ways to assess and deal with the problem. Sampling revealed that, among distilled spirits, bourbons generally contained the highest urethane levels: up to several hundred parts per billion (ppb). Levels in some brandies were also high: from 200 to 12,000 ppb.
Since then, FDA has accepted two plans by industry to reduce urethane in alcoholic beverages. And FDA Commissioner Frank E. Young, M. D., Ph.D., has asked 27 foreign governments that levels in their countries' alcoholic beverages intended for export to the United States be "as low as technologically feasible -- at least comparable to those of similar alcoholic beverages" produced here. At FDA's request, the National Toxicology Program, a federally funded research group, is giving urethane its highest research priority in 1988. Results of that research should provide the information FDA needs to better assess the significance of urethane in alcoholic beverages. (See also "Too Many Drinks Spiked with Urethane" in the April 1988 FDA Consumer.)
FDA Consumer / September 1988 / p 15
Hypertext by frf on 1998-JAN-29