The next time you purchase a bottle of wine from Australia you might want to make sure you have plenty of toilet paper on hand, that’s because many wine makers in the country add sodium carboxymethyl cellulose, a chemical known for it’s laxative qualities.
While small quantities of the chemical can thicken most liquids when used in wine it helps eliminate crystallization and cloudiness from whites.
According to California Watch removing that cloudiness is usually an expensive problem that requires energy-draining methods that include filtration and cooling.
Speaking about the use of the chemical a general counsel member for California’s wine industry says:
“I don’t think the levels that are approved for use in wine … will give that laxative effect.”
The product while not yet approved for use in US wines is allowed to be imported from wines made elsewhere.
The European Union has also approved the additive.
Whether or not the new chemical provides a laxative effect in small doses or not shouldn’t be the issue here, it’s the fact that yet another industry is throwing more chemicals into our beverages in an attempt to serve up a cheaper product.
Are you willing to pay slightly more money for a white wine free of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose or does the extra chemical matter to you?
[Image via ShutterStock.com ]
