HOT TRUB
January 18, 2001

Edited by: Peter LaFrance (peter.lafrence@beerbasics.com)

Presented by: American Brewer
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Vol. 2 No. 3
This newsletter will post items of special interest to brewers, members of the brewing and distilling community, and members of the media that covers the beverage alcohol business.
Should you wish to contribute in any way to this venture please contact Peter LaFrance at peter.lafrance@beerbasics.com
If you wish to be dropped from this list please respond to this posting to peter.lafrance@beerbasics.com and include the word remove in the Subject: line.
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 Biotech Corn Found in Brewing Product

 

Late last week both Reuters and the Associated Press Washington DC bureau reported that StarLink, a biotech corn variety not approved for human consumption, was found in an ingredient used by some U.S. beer makers. StarLink never was approved for human consumption because of unresolved questions about whether a special protein it contains, known as Cry9C, can cause allergic reactions.

 

This information was part of a report by federal regulators released on Friday by Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin. The report stated that as of Dec. 20^th the FDA had tested 129 of 193 product samples for StarLink and found it both in the Kraft taco shells and the other was for a special corn ingredient used by brewers to make beer. Durbin, a Democrat, asked all three agencies in November to describe what they were doing to halt any further contamination by StarLink.

 

"FDA has identified the presence of StarLink corn, by both protein and DNA testing, in a corn meal product marketed to the brewing industry," Joseph Levitt, director of the FDA's center for food safety, said in a letter to Durbin.

 

The tiny corn flakes, which are used by only a few U.S. brewers, were immediately withdrawn by the maker after the contamination was discovered, the source said. The beer product was subsequently withdrawn from distribution by the processor before it reached brewers, according to FDA officials.

 

Because the ingredient never reached consumers, it was not listed among the more than 300 foods recalled by manufacturers that was published by the FDA a few weeks ago.

StarLink has been withdrawn from the market, but corn millers and seed companies have been asked by FDA and Agriculture Department to test for contamination in their products.

 

The corn, which was grown on less than one percent of U.S. cornfields last year, was accidentally mixed with vast amounts of other corn by farmers, grain elevators and food processors.

 

 

A Faster Way To Get The Gas Out?

Discovery.com News reports that according to this month's Physics World, physicists and researchers at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, along with EA Technology in Chester, England, have developed an ultrasonic whistle that degases wort in mere minutes.

 

Lyn Kruger, president of the Siebel Institute of Technology, an education and research firm dedicated to beer brewing, has studied the use of ultrasound at South African breweries. Kruger and her colleagues found it to be an effective, yet expensive, process.

 

She still prefers traditional methods. "Most brewers remove excess carbon dioxide by adding particulate matter which creates a nucleation site for CO₂ bubbles to form. The particles then rise to the top where they can be skimmed off."

 

David Edgar, director of the Institute for Brewing Studies at the Association of Brewers, thinks the new technology might benefit large-scale commercial breweries. "Major breweries are always seeking ways to improve beer making methods," he said. "When millions of barrels are produced daily, the efficiency of each step in the process gains importance."

 

 

EU calls for uniform DWI limit

 

This morning in Brussels the European Commission issued a statement saying that thousands of lives could be saved on the European Union's roads each year if the EU standardized rules on drunk driving. The Commission said a legal limit of 0.5 milligrams of alcohol per milliliter of blood -- equivalent to about two glasses of beer -- could result in a 10 percent reduction in drink-related road deaths.

 

Ten of the EU's 15 countries already fix a 0.5 mg/ml limit. In four -- Britain, Ireland, Italy and Luxembourg -- the limit is a higher, less stringent 0.8 mg/ml. Sweden has the toughest rules, with a 0.2 mg/ml limit.

 

The Commission stopped short of proposing binding legislation on drunk driving.

 

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