Hidden dangers from wine of unknown origin

Nearing the Lunar New Year 2024, the situation of people buying and selling wine soaked from plants, or even from rare animals, animal organs is happening quite a lot. Although there have been warnings from medical experts about the harmful effects of some types of soaked wine, many people still buy them for use or as gifts. Recently, there have been many cases of poisoning, hospitalization, and even death when using soaked wines of unknown origin.

Some types of snake wine are introduced and sold in many places. Photo: BUI TUAN

"Sold out" during Tet holiday

In Ho Chi Minh City, the buying and selling of wine soaked from animals and animal organs is very active, especially near Tet. Some types of wine soaked from animals are advertised and exaggerated by sellers as "miracle drugs" to cure many diseases: increase vitality, cure bone and joint diseases, pain, increase longevity... The actual effectiveness has not been proven, but there are still many people willing to spend a large amount of money to buy them for use or as gifts for Tet.

Posing as someone who wants to buy wine as a gift, Mr. BC, residing in District 8 (HCMC), introduced us to wines soaked from king cobras of various sizes. For example, a 20-liter jar of wine, a 3-kg king cobra costs 3.5 million VND; a 30-liter jar, a king cobra weighing about 1 kg costs 4.5 million VND. Mr. BC also introduced many other types of wine soaked with other animals, such as scorpions.

“All types of wine have been soaked for 3 years or more, and can be drunk immediately. These types are very nutritious, increase vitality for men. For the elderly, drinking 3 glasses a day helps reduce bone and joint pain, sleep well…”, Mr. BC said.

Currently, the buying and selling of wine soaked in animals and products made from wild animal organs on social networks is taking place openly, with many buyers and sellers. Meanwhile, the authorities still face many difficulties in managing and preventing this form of trading.

Through social networks, we contacted Ms. Yen (who introduced herself as living in District 12, Ho Chi Minh City) to ask about buying wine. Ms. Yen said that currently, there are only wines made from animals under 6 months old. King cobra is priced at 5 million VND/30 liter jar, seahorse is priced at 2 million VND/20 liter jar, wine made from tiger balm and medicinal herbs is priced at 10 million VND/20 liter jar...; and wines made from over 3 years old were sold out before New Year's Day.

Ms. Yen said that she only sells online to avoid inspection by authorities. If the customer agrees to buy, the product will be packaged and sent by post . The customer can check the product before paying.

“The wine used for soaking is homemade premium rice wine, not mixed so it is safe to drink. When soaked with rare animals for a long enough time, it is very good for health, especially for the elderly with bone and joint diseases, cures insomnia and also helps increase vitality for men,” Ms. Yen affirmed.

How to drink alcohol safely?

Doctor CKII Tran Xuan Linh, Head of the Department of Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology, Gia Dinh People's Hospital, informed that recently, the hospital has received many cases of patients hospitalized for liver failure, kidney failure, pancreatic damage... due to drinking alcohol soaked in animals with the desire to treat musculoskeletal pain, enhance sexual performance, impotence... Verifying the origin of animals and the quality of white wine used to "produce" soaked alcohol is a major issue that needs attention.

For live carnivores such as snakes, tigers, bears, birds, etc., the fur and internal organs contain many bacteria and parasites. If the processing and cleaning are not done properly or the fur and internal organs are still intact, it will increase the risk of infection with dangerous parasites and bacteria that cause diseases to humans. In addition, it should be noted that the alcohol used to soak animals must have an alcohol concentration of 40-550 to be able to destroy all the protein in the animal. If the alcohol concentration is too low, the protein in the animal will be difficult to decompose, increasing the risk of infection and poisoning for users.

“The effects of animal-infused wine cannot be completely denied, but if you drink too much wine for a long time and if you do not use it properly, it will be very harmful to your health. For wine, you should only drink a maximum of 20ml/day. People with liver disease (hepatitis B, liver cancer, cirrhosis, liver failure, etc.), pancreas, kidney disease and people with diabetes should absolutely not use wine,” Dr. Tran Xuan Linh advised.

According to information from Dr. Hoang Van Quang, Head of the Department of Intensive Care - Anti-Poison, Thong Nhat Hospital (HCMC), there is a situation where some businesses use poor quality white wine to produce wine, causing many unfortunate cases of alcohol poisoning. The cause of alcohol poisoning is that users drink alcohol containing Methanol, "produced" from wood, which is cheap; Ethanol alcohol does not contain toxic substances, is safe, is produced mainly from rice but is more expensive. To avoid alcohol poisoning, people need to be aware and absolutely do not use alcohol of unknown origin.

Statistics from the Ministry of Health show that the cause of poisoning from animal-infused alcohol accounts for more than 10%. These are warning bells for those who like to drink alcohol of unknown origin. To limit the use of alcohol of unknown origin, the authorities need to widely propagate to the people. Strengthen inspection and supervision, resolutely eliminate low-quality alcohol, alcohol of animal-infused alcohol without inspection and clear origin.

BUI TUAN - KIM HUYEN

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/an-hoa-tu-ruou-ngam-khong-ro-nguon-goc-post724539.html