Mandated levels of Methanol and Acetaldehyde in finished product

[Pacific Distillers]

Hi everyone,

I have had a good browse through the FDA and TTB publications but cant locate the mandated levels for ethanol and or acetaldehyde in liquor, could anyone point me in the right direction, much appreciated!

[Pacific Distillers]

Further to my query above I went to the USP Harmonization and found this one https://www.usp.org/sites/default/files/usp/document/harmonization/excipients/alcohol-08-01-2014.pdf whihc is the current alcohol monograph and outlines the testing but not limits, 

 

[FIVE x 5 Consulting]

Interesting question. There's a free monograph for USP ethanol from the Bad Old Hand Sani days: https://www.usp.org/sites/default/files/usp/document/health-quality-safety/usp-hand-sanitizer-ingredients.pdf

However, US Distilleries do not need to follow this monograph unless they want to label their neutral spirit as USP.

 

I don't know that there's a hard limit specified for acetaldehyde. You have an obligation to avoid "adulterating" your products from FDA regulations.  At what point would acetaldehyde cause a product to be considered (by FDA) to be adulterated? I don't know. Here's a survey of acetaldehyde levels from a 1983 study:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK531662/table/p5-T33/?report=objectonly

Acetaldehyde is present in most fermented products and will carry over when distilling. Small producers typically don't even have the means to test for it.  I'm not sure how TTB or FDA would go about regulating & enforcing such a limit.

 

As for mandated levels of ethanol, the minimum is 0.5% ABV (1 proof degree).  Below that point, it is not considered or regulated as an alcoholic beverage.

[Pacific Distillers]

Hey Five

 

thanks for the reply, yes I found the same monograph, interesting that they prescribe such low levels in hand sanitiser but arent so concerned about what you ingest!

One thing I did come across which really surprised me is that Tequila must contain a minimum amount of methanol by law in Mexcico to be Tequila......that explains an awful lot!

Mexican standard

The amounts of methanol in distillates are of utmost importance for the alcoholic industry, because this compound can be dangerous for its consumers if its ratio indices are not adequate. For this reason, there are established standards for controlling the levels of methanol that a distilled beverage can contain. In Mexico, there is the standard “NOM-142-SSA1 / SCFI-2014, Alcoholic beverages. Sanitary specifications. Sanitary and commercial labeling. ” ⁽²⁾, issued by the Ministry of Health, which establishes the permissible limits of methanol content for different distilled beverages.

The standard establishes a maximum methanol content of 300 mg per 100 ml of anhydrous alcohol. It only presents an exception for whiskey and cognac drinks where the maximum allowable limit is 1000 mg of methanol per 100 ml of anhydrous alcohol.

It is important to note that the Tequila Standard recognizes that Methanol is an unavoidable constituent, setting a lower limit of 30 mg of Methanol per 100 ml of Anhydrous Alcohol; that is, an alcoholic beverage that does not contain Methanol can not be tequila since, as explained above, Methanol is generated from pectins that are in the agave.