This Fourth of July has come and gone so we thought we’d go a little deeper and discuss a news tidbit we ran across about alcohol in soft drinks. You probably heard about it.
A study out of France (whom we can always count on to dig up all things unflattering on Americans) found that, after testing 19 different kinds of colas, more than half of them contained tiny traces of alcohol (though they didn’t really cite its origin).
Are you shrugging, freaking or laughing? This being America, you never know.
We are a melting pot, after all. Reactions will vary.
Many of us forbid alcohol for religious or other reasons. Muslims, for example.
While those of European decent might think this a move in the right direction (even though French law states a beverage is only considered alcoholic if it contains more than 1.2 percent alcohol).
You can also be sure there are mommy bloggers going bananas about this news, writing Congressmembers and boycotting their local 7-11s.
That’s the beauty of America, we say.
Exercise your First Amendment right by commenting below.
The alcohol is from the flavor oil concentrates. They are then emulsified with gum arabic to keep then in solution as things are brought to a more aqueous environment.
The flavor extracts could probably be made in glycerin (there aren’t that many great solvents that are also foodsafe) but that would add some viscosity issues.
We’re just glad to know we can still drink soda at work! Thanks for sharing, Frederic.
Cheers,
DIA
There’s plenty of alcohol in other seemingly safe foods like vinegar and vinegar products like pickles (unless the vinegar was exceptionally carefully distilled. But natural vinegars like cider vinegars will always have alcohol due to the process of turning sugar into acetic acid with alcohol being the intermediary).
In the US, nonalcoholic is 0.5% or less for potable beverages.