Thousands of litres of rice wine have been seized in just over two weeks since local authorities nation-wide carried out a raid on fake and poor quality spirits beginning on March 1.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, market management departments in 15 provinces and cities including Lang Son, Cao Bang, Ha Giang, Hanoi, Can Tho and HCM City, have seized over 40,000 litres of mostly home-produced rice wine, which have methanol exceeding permitted levels.

In Bac Ninh, local authorities did a quick test on four rice wine samples which all showed methanol exceeding the permitted level. Over 2,000 litres of rice wine were seized.

1,431 bottles of fake wine with various brands were also seized in the raid.

According to reports by authorities in Quang Ninh and Kon Tum provinces, most of the seized rice spirits were from local small-scale producers and had failed to pay due attention to quality.

On March 2, the Steering Committee for Food Safety and Hygiene of Hanoi held an urgent meeting about the rising number of methanol poisoning cases.

Tran Van Chung, vice head of Hanoi Department of Health told the meeting that dozens of people had been admitted to Bach Mai Hospital’s Poison Control Centre because of alcohol poisoning since the beginning of this year.

Dtinews