A laboratory in Zurich found alcohol in five out of 25 non-alcoholic beverages. The test should show whether the promises made on the label are true. Supposedly non-alcoholic beers often have a low alcohol content, as the cantonal laboratory wrote in a statement on Friday. Up to 0.5 percent is legally permissible. Accordingly, products that advertise 0.0 percent alcohol would offer added value.
According to a press release, two kombucha drinks came off particularly badly. A drink that is considered classic non-alcoholic. They had an alcohol content of 1.5 percent. The producers would have overlooked that fermentation with the kombucha culture, a fungus, produces alcohol.
In a non-alcoholic alternative to gin, the testers found 0.6 percent alcohol. The manufacturer used a flavor with too much alcohol as a carrier. But two drinks whose label advertises “0.0 percent” also proved themselves to be lies. A supposedly non-alcoholic gin had 0.1 percent and an aperitif 0.6 percent. With the aperitif, the alcohol came from the aromas used, with the gin the cause is still unclear.
The laboratory also criticized the labeling of the products. The labeling of 15 samples was insufficient. In the case of nine products, parts of the declaration or even all of the obligatory information was not easy to read as required. “This is amazing, since there would be more than enough space on the bottles or cans to display all the information clearly and unambiguously,” quoted the Swiss agency sda from a press release from the laboratory.