Bad news for frequent chuggers of Fireball Whisky who also happen to live in Finland and Sweden (it’s an admittedly narrow slice on the Venn Diagram): the two countries have taken Fireball off the shelves of their liquor stores due to too high a quantity of propylene glycol.
Propylene glycol is used as a “flavour carrier” in food and, according to the FDA, is “generally recognized as safe.”
That sounds like some confidence right there. Driving is generally recognized as safe, too.
So why did the European nations ban it? Well, the whisky was made to the American standard, which has a higher threshold for propylene glycol than the EU allows.
Says the Finnish liquor monopoly Alko, “the substance isn’t necessarily detrimental to individuals’ health, although it is used in a wide range of cases from de-icing compounds in the aviation industry to the preparation of snack foods.”
I like that. It won’t necessarily kill you, but we aren’t gonna sell it.
But what Fireball is is not up to European snuff for booze. Those guys know their shit, so maybe we should raise our fucking standards and not, you know, chug trash.
Just a thought.
[Via @FlintSkinny]