Snapple, the American brand of fruit juice and tea drinks, has been withdrawn from sale in Qatar for breaking the country’s food law, the Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning (Baladiya) has announced on Twitter.
Baladiya has not given details about the nature of the violation, but simply states that Snapple samples recently tested by the Central Food Laboratory at the Supreme Council of Health (SCH) failed to meet required standards.
It’s not known which varieties of Snapple were tested, and it’s not clear whether the withdrawal is a temporary or permanent measure.
تØذير #قطر #البلدية_قطر pic.twitter.com/duBo5KgfOu— البلدية والتخطيط (@albaladiya) May 1, 2014
The drink had previously been sold in several major supermarkets across Doha, but when reached by telephone this afternoon, one of them, Megamart, confirmed that the drink was no longer on sale there.
Whilst it remains unclear what test Snapple has failed in Qatar, it’s interesting to note that two varieties of the drink were removed from shelves in the UAE last year because they contained very small amounts of alcohol.
The brand’s “fruit punch mixed fruit drink” and “peach flavored tea” were found by UAE authorities to contain 0.48 per cent and 0.05 per cent of alcohol respectively – both above the 0.03 per cent limit allowable in the country.
The Dr Pepper group, makers of Snapple, have not yet responded to a request for comment.
Thoughts?
Difficult to tell without knowing the manufacturing process, but with the high levels of Fructose in fruit-based drinks, you’d expect a certain amount of fermentation to take place, resulting in the presence of alcohol.
…exactly and they say those people who have been without alcohol for some time even minute amounts of the stuff can get the guys singing the wrong songs
That is usually a psychosomatic reaction. Humans naturally produce, or rather our gut flora produces, alcohol so we are never without a trace of it in our blood.
There have even been a number of studies that demonstrate that groups of people will exhibit typical drunken behavior after consuming what they think is alcoholic drinks but aren’t. Cheap dates!
Yep. Most of the fruit juice sold here would have have trace amounts of alcohol, especially if it has been shipped relatively warm and stored for some time.
Sorry World Cup fans no Snapple available. You rowdy hooligans might drink 1000 cases of Snapple and be causing trouble. Is King Arthue around? Welcome to the Middle Ages.
I think we need a brave volunteer to find the rate at which you need to imbibe this Snapple to beat the rate you metabolise alcohol. We need to add the constraint that our brave volunteer will succumb to a diabetic coma, exploded gut, or vomitus gushius at some stage.
Hardly an issue one would have thought, how about putting some effort into reducing road deaths and injuries, instead of investigating trace amounts of naturally occurring alcohol in fruit juice….priorities?
Some reason you can’t buy vanilla extract here. Someone might drink 10 gallons of the stuff and get a buzz. Idjits.
Is that why!! I just thought the locals weren’t into baking lol!! I tried the vanilla sugar they sell here, nasty. I’ve been bringing it back in my suitcase each year!! Anyway back to the article I wish they would state why in the interest of public health. They taketh away and then a report comes out in 6 months saying they’ve found rat poison or something and you’ve drunk your cupboard dry of the stuff. We are told via tweeting moi not to start scare mongering, rumours, take pictures of “bad things” etc etc then the officials release these “half of the picture” pieces which creates more questions rather than provide answers or “soothe” the public.
Agreed. so do I throw the Snapple away because of the poison or drink it and P-A-R-T-Y
Community information, community engagement …what its that?
I found some form of vanilla extract at Spinny’s and Carrefour… it’s not the same but it’s something.
Thanks Ms. Hala, I saw the beans at Jones the Grocer too but sooo $$$$ 😉
plus, so obsessed about the alcohol that any chemical added, colorants etc etc they are all fine and healthy!
Good…remove anything that is not good
but Snapple IS good
Apple is better than snapple…Apple keeps a doctor away…while snapple will keep a patient away (out of life)
exactly, remove sh%^&* fast foods that are a threat to health and good eating.
u mean fast food contains alcohol
I answered to Saeed that said “remove anything that is not good”….well let’s start from fast disgusting foods
This is simple.
Now how am I suppose to get legally drunk in this country?! #Sarcasm