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Methanol contamination in traditionally fermented alcoholic beverages: the microbial dimension
Incidence of methanol contamination of traditionally fermented beverages is increasing globally resulting in the death of several persons. The source of methanol contamination has not been clearly established in most countries. While there were speculations that unscrupulous vendors might have delib...
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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Springer International Publishing
2016
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Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5028366/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27652180 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40064-016-3303-1 |
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author | Ohimain, Elijah Ige |
author_facet | Ohimain, Elijah Ige |
author_sort | Ohimain, Elijah Ige |
collection | PubMed |
description | Incidence of methanol contamination of traditionally fermented beverages is increasing globally resulting in the death of several persons. The source of methanol contamination has not been clearly established in most countries. While there were speculations that unscrupulous vendors might have deliberately spiked the beverages with methanol, it is more likely that the methanol might have been produced by contaminating microbes during traditional ethanol fermentation, which is often inoculated spontaneously by mixed microbes, with a potential to produce mixed alcohols. Methanol production in traditionally fermented beverages can be linked to the activities of pectinase producing yeast, fungi and bacteria. This study assessed some traditional fermented beverages and found that some beverages are prone to methanol contamination including cachaca, cholai, agave, arak, plum and grape wines. Possible microbial role in the production of methanol and other volatile congeners in these fermented beverages were discussed. The study concluded by suggesting that contaminated alcoholic beverages be converted for fuel use rather than out rightly banning the age—long traditional alcohol fermentation. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-5028366 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2016 |
publisher | Springer International Publishing |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-50283662016-09-20 Methanol contamination in traditionally fermented alcoholic beverages: the microbial dimension Ohimain, Elijah Ige Springerplus Review Incidence of methanol contamination of traditionally fermented beverages is increasing globally resulting in the death of several persons. The source of methanol contamination has not been clearly established in most countries. While there were speculations that unscrupulous vendors might have deliberately spiked the beverages with methanol, it is more likely that the methanol might have been produced by contaminating microbes during traditional ethanol fermentation, which is often inoculated spontaneously by mixed microbes, with a potential to produce mixed alcohols. Methanol production in traditionally fermented beverages can be linked to the activities of pectinase producing yeast, fungi and bacteria. This study assessed some traditional fermented beverages and found that some beverages are prone to methanol contamination including cachaca, cholai, agave, arak, plum and grape wines. Possible microbial role in the production of methanol and other volatile congeners in these fermented beverages were discussed. The study concluded by suggesting that contaminated alcoholic beverages be converted for fuel use rather than out rightly banning the age—long traditional alcohol fermentation. Springer International Publishing 2016-09-20 /pmc/articles/PMC5028366/ /pubmed/27652180 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40064-016-3303-1 Text en © The Author(s) 2016 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. |
spellingShingle | Review Ohimain, Elijah Ige Methanol contamination in traditionally fermented alcoholic beverages: the microbial dimension |
title | Methanol contamination in traditionally fermented alcoholic beverages: the microbial dimension |
title_full | Methanol contamination in traditionally fermented alcoholic beverages: the microbial dimension |
title_fullStr | Methanol contamination in traditionally fermented alcoholic beverages: the microbial dimension |
title_full_unstemmed | Methanol contamination in traditionally fermented alcoholic beverages: the microbial dimension |
title_short | Methanol contamination in traditionally fermented alcoholic beverages: the microbial dimension |
title_sort | methanol contamination in traditionally fermented alcoholic beverages: the microbial dimension |
topic | Review |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5028366/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27652180 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40064-016-3303-1 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT ohimainelijahige methanolcontaminationintraditionallyfermentedalcoholicbeveragesthemicrobialdimension |