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Bad beer kills at least 69 in Mozambique 0:44
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At least 69 people have died over the weekend in Mozambique, after drinking home-brewed beer at a funeral, officials say. Yiming Woo reports.
- Reuters
- 13 Jan 2015
- News/World
A casual beer can go very, very wrong. Source: Supplied
IT’S summer, and for many of us, that means plenty of ice-cold beers.
But it’s been a bad week for the amber nectar, with our favourite drink tainted with all manner of scary substances.
As Australia Day looms on the horizon, here’s our guide to what to beware from the bottle.
1. ENDANGERED WHALE TESTICLES
The fin whale’s private parts feature in a limited edition Icelandic beer. Source: News Limited
ICELANDIC brewery Stedji has come under fire for producing a beer using the testicles of an endangered whale.
The Hvalur 2 beer is made by smoking the testicles of fin whales in a “traditional way”, with dried sheep dung, according to the Evening Standard.
It will be served at Thorri, the country’s winter festival.
Anti-whaling campaigners claim the “dying” whaling industry in Iceland is trying to create markets for its products.
“Right-minded people would no sooner drink beer brewed with whale testicles than they would order similar drinks made with tiger, elephant or rhino testicles,” said Dolphin Conservation’s Vanessa Williams-Grey.
The brewery said Iceland’s fisheries were “self-sustainable” and denied that the fin whale is in danger of extinction.
2. CROCODILE BILE
Mozambique officials gather samples from a drum that was used to brew the beer. Source: AP
MOZAMBIQUE’S government has declared three days of mourning after 69 people died from drinking beer thought to be contaminated with crocodile bile this weekend.
Paula Bernardo, health director for the Northeast Tete province, saida further 196 people had been admitted to hospitals in the region.
“People flocked to the hospital, suffering from diarrhoea and muscle pain,” she told Radio Mozambique. “Then bodies from various neighbourhoods were brought to the hospital, and this alerted us.”
Pombe, a traditional Mozambican beer, is made from millet or corn flour. The exact source of contamination is still unknown, but authorities believe the drink was poisoned with the deadly dark green substance during the course of a funeral on Saturday.
3. DROPPING IT IN THE RIVER
Remember: beer is healthier than water. Source: Supplied
A 59-YEAR-OLD was left with a basketball-sized hernia after drinking a beer he had dropped in the Brisbane River.
John MacDonald scooped his coldie out of the water after it slipped through his fingers in March 2012, reported the Sunshine Coast Daily.
He soon became violently sick with a stomach bug caused by the contaminated river water.
Mr MacDonald was given antibiotics and underwent a series of operations, but the hernia became infected, swelling to the size of a football and becoming covered in angry-looking sores and scabs.
4. CAUSTIC SODA
A threat to both toddlers and beer drinkers. Source: News Limited
DAVID Caminal, 47, suffered serious internal injuries when he drank a beer contaminated with caustic soda.
The Spanish TV producer was left close to death last August after he was served a drink from a pump that was being cleaned at a bar in Leeds.
He spent three weeks in hospital before being flown home to Barcelona for further treatment, according to the Mirror.
Solicitor Jill Greenfield said: “Something went very tragically wrong. He now potentially faces lifelong complications.”
5. PLASTIC PARTICLES
Invisible debris in your beer could cause long-term health issues. Source: Supplied
LAST June, a consumer rights magazine found that every one of Germany’s biggest-selling brands of beer contained microscopic plastic fibres.
The worst affected were Pilsner from the north-western Jever brewery, with an average of 78.8 particles per litre, followed by Munich’s Paulaner wheat beer at 70 and Warsteiner Pils at 47, The Local reported.
While no immediate health risk was associated with the particles, experts said they could cause damage over time.
The researchers also discovered flakes of skins, bits of glass and bugs in the beer, noted Esquire magazine.
6. BONE
Watch out for rogue objects. Source: Supplied
A LONDONER claimed she found a wishbone floating in a bottle of Bud Light, the London Free Press reported.
Sharon Daley, 40, cracked open the beer during a backyard campfire celebration at her son’s home in September.
After taking a swig, she passed the bottle to her son, who agreed the beer tasted off, and gave it to his girlfriend for a third opinion.
“She spit it out and instantly put the bottle up and looked,” Daley said. “She goes, ‘Oh my god, there is a wishbone in this bottle!’
“It was, like, skunky but rotten.”
7. CLEANING FLUID
You don’t want your beer so clean there are still chemicals in it. Source: Supplied
IN December 2002, brewing firm Interbrew recalled cans of Boddingtons Draught Bitter after fears it may have been contaminated with cleaning fluid.
“The affected product may contain traces of cleaning fluid used during the brewing process to clean the inside of beer storage tanks,” the company told just-drinks.com.
But it said the contamination would not pose a health issue, only an unpleasant taste and smell and “some discomfort to the mouth and throat.”
In a similar case, an Ohio man drinking from a Budweiser keg contaminated with chemicals in July 2013 was left with burns to his mouth, throat, stomach and intestines. He had to undergo major surgery, the Norwalk Reflector reported.
8. BROWN SPECKS
Look closely at that liquid before you drink. Source: Supplied
Chinenye Gerald Onwuachu sued Nigerian Breweries Plc in October after finding “inedible and unwholesome brown particles” in his Heineken.
He said he was left with severe gastroenteritis after drinking the beer, suffering intestinal damage and kidney dysfunction.
Mr Onwauchu sued for almost $700,000.
The moral of the story? Look before you swig.
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