Formaldehyde

[thaibebop]

Is Thai beer preserved with formaldehyde......or is this just urban myth?

Guy today tells me that a random alcohol check in beers here revealed a range of between four and fourteen percent for beers marketed as between five and six plus.

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Of course it is, why do you think it's so good. It's the same with cigarettes, ya gotta smoke the filter because that's where they put the heroin.

Secrets of substance abuse 101.

[britmaveric]

No hangovers here from Thai beer - mekong is another story! 

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Your substance of choice is ok............... right!!!!! ?

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It's legal!!!

[tremoloman]

I remember hearing this when I was in Thailand... both Singha/Chang used to give me serious hangovers...pain focused usually in the eyes and hands (veins), no idea if this is attributable to formaldehyde though...never had that kind of pain with foreign brew.

Why would they put formaldehyde in beer anyways? Would it be to preserve it due to the temperature?

[corkscrew]

Is Thai beer preserved with formaldehyde......or is this just urban myth?

Guy today tells me that a random alcohol check in beers here revealed a range of between four and fourteen percent for beers marketed as between five and six plus.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Chang certainly has a kick in it that's not found in other brews. But, I just think it is the extra alcohol.

[bobber46]

Is Thai beer preserved with formaldehyde......or is this just urban myth?

I heard this rumor on my first visit to LOS in 1971 ... Funny, but I guess some stories never die ... I'm still kicking though.

[Sporting Dog]

Can't drink Singha, Chang or Leo - I don't think the problem is formaldehyde (which is also a carcinogen). I think the hangovers are probably caused by the impurities in the water, ingredients and processes they use. Maybe the extra alcohol but I feel sick the next day after two bottles of them.

And even worse, they taste like &lt;deleted&gt; - 'specially Chang!! ....actually Leo tastes OK.

[rio666uk]

Ive never had a problem with Chang or Singha... but ive heard that there's some funny things in Sangsom... if i drink too much of that i seem to spend the following day in a sub-concious parrallel universe, imagining talking to people that arent there etc!

anyone else had the same experience?

[Tywais]

When I was here in 1968-1969 I was also told the beer had it. Don't know if true or not but I had a tendancy to believe it at that time. Seems it is/was an issue in China.

"Beijing residents can breathe easier today. Yanjing Beer, Beijing's largest brewery and the producer of 11% of the nation's beer output, said today that it stopped adding formaldehyde to its beer back in 2002. Taken together with the denials issued by Tsingtao and China Resources (makers of Snow beer), China's beer market ought to be at least 35% formaldehyde-free.

Reports today have tried to reassure consumers that this scare is different from recent cases of poisonous food additives and counterfeit products. The 95% figure is from 2003, and was wrong then, too. And a little bit of formaldehyde won't kill you - after all, it's in the foreign beer, too. Beijing Evening News spoke with Zheng Yangming, director of the Department of Technical Quality at the Yanjing Beer Group:

Using formaldehyde as an additive in the brewing process was not invented in China, but was instead a foreign invention. To this day in foreign brewing textbooks and other materials, formaldehyde is still listed as a stabilizer...starting in the 1970s, foreign brewers began to eliminate formaldehyde as an additive during beer production. Entering the 21st century, major domestic breweries also stopped adding formadehyde."

Source: Danwei publishing

[zzap]

Which 'foreign' beers would that be? Singha, Thailand, and San Miguel Philippines?

[Plus+]

Formaldehyde is a banned substance by local FDA and it has been for many years.

[zzap]

FDA? That would cover the US, right?

I am certain it's banned within the EEC, too.

But I have heard rumours about both San Miguel and Thai beer containing the stuff, or what do they add to prevent it from going 'off' while cases are transported in the full heat of a tropical mid-day?

In the Philippines they used it on veges sold in the capital years ago, too, don't know if this has improved since.

Edited December 8, 2005 by zzap

[ianh68h]

When I used to drink Singha beer I would always feel like I had been poisoned the next morning if I had had more than 2 bottles, I'd get sudden shooting pains in the stomach.

I mentioned this to a Thai friend, he told me the brewers put formaldehyde in to preserve the beer upcountry, for they may deliver the beer only once a week and the store refrigerator could only handle a few bottles at a time so the rest is kept at room temperature in the corridor. The formaldehyde is to preserve it.

Oh well, I guess I won't go off so quickly once I กลับบ้านเก่า shred off this mortal coil.

Nobody has for sure shown that Thai beer doesn't have an unacceptable level of formadehyde, and bannork has given the most logical reason why it might.

What do people think about Chang Light (4.2%) and Singha Light (3.6%)? So far the Chang Light agrees with me but the Singha Light doesn't. Does this mean the formaldehyde is higher in Singha?

Just out of interest, why are so many posters to this forum from a group called "banned"?

[Samuian]

Formaldehyde must be cheaper then Citric/Ascorbic Acid or simple Pasteurization Process.

Singha f.E. keeps for 6 Months without cooling....

As with Wine, Sulfur Content gives you all the negative side effects of alcohol consumption!

Ah, well/..... stick to Skyy, Bombay Sapphire, Tanquerey, Stolichnaya, Moskovskaye, Havanna Club plenty of stuff "out there"...still remember: the amount makes the poison!

[moo9]

Chang gave me blackouts, Heineken doesn't. Go figure!

To be honest Heineken is a beer imitation, no taste, overpriced and from Holland.

I prefer all the Leo's, Singha's or Changs's over this terrible Heineken, which tastes smooth like tap water

[ianh68h]

no chemical shit added.

Most countries, including Thailand, have food labelling laws that require the ingredients list on the label. Has anyone ever wondered why all over the world alcoholic beverages are exempted from this requirement?

I think it's because the governments collect a high excise tax on alcohol and fear that consumption might drop it the ingredients were listed.

I have to agree with all the negative comments about beer in Thailand. Even Heineken has a bad effect and I'm not a big drinker. I have recently found "Federbrau" which is the same price as Heineken, 4.7% and a refreshing change with no obvious after effects. Has anyone else tried it? Brewed in Ayutthaya but listed ingredients (if you can trust them) are just water, barley, malt, hops, and yeast. It says "all natural ingredients" on the can. I'll keep an eye open for "Kloster". Anyone got any views on "Asahi"?

[Elard]

On 12/4/2005 at 9:24 PM, buadhai said:

Urban myth. A friend of mine runs an environmental testing lab in BKK and they tested some random samples of Singha and found no formaldehyde at all....

My friends work there too and they aid all the beers tested had alcohol.