Many years ago when I first came to Korea as a young soldier I remember that there was a brand of soju that we were prohibited from partaking in because it was alleged to contain flormaldehyde. I have no idea if it was true or just a widely accepted Korean urban legend but apparently there is some recent concern with Chilsung’s brand of soju.
The Korea Times (March 20, 2012) reports:
The liquor manufacturer has faced controversy over the use of regenerated alkaline water in its low-alcohol soju, Cheoumcheoreom.
Lotte Chilsung Beverage uses the regenerated water, whose acidity level is lower than natural water, as a base for soju, a distilled alcoholic beverage native to Korea,.
Since its first use in 2006, the firm has promoted the benefits of the alkaline water, differentiating its product from other soju brands and emphasizing the higher the pH of water, the better it will be for people’s health.
But, as the Korea Times points out, some people are more than a little sceptical.
The controversy has recently resurfaced as a cable channel aired a program last March raising allegations that the regenerated alkaline water should not be used as a base for soju as it causes muscle pain and skin reactions.
The company has denounced these allegations and has assured the public that its product is safe and examines the water twice as often as is required by law. It has also vowed…
to take stern action against any malicious rumors against its product, adding one person, surnamed Kim, was recently ordered to pay 20 million in damages by the Supreme Court for spreading malicious rumors and was also indicted on defamation charges.
At the end of the ad, the company also refuted rumors that the company financially sponsors people and organizations that are threats to the nation’s security with part of its profits.
{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
When in Korea and buying soju you should pour off the top inch or so of the bottle.
That’s because the distillation processes over there can be suspect and formaldehyde is supposed to be a byproduct of the distillation process.
Soju was much, much worse a decade and two ago, it’s supposed to be improving now (along with mokgoli).
The name soju means “made of something burning,” an indication of the fiery taste of this distilled liquor made by collecting the vapor of heated fermented wine. Because its alcohol content is relatively high, soju does not go off quickly.
Its ingredients are steamed rice, barley, corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes and water. Connoisseurs claim that unlike homemade liquor of yore, today’s mass-produced soju has slipped in quality.
They also take pride in the fact that it is like fire to swallow. Even going on to lament the loss of all the local (amateur) brewers of the stuff.
So, by the evidence collected, It is a crudly made, poorly refined liquer produced by people unskilled in the arts of manufacturing spirits.
Formaldehyde well below any possible toxic level is sometimes added to beer and ale as a partial preservative.
Apart from that, there is no formaldehyde in alcohol naturally. HOWEVER, all the necessary ingredients are there. Methanol (wood alcohol or shellac thinner) is so close chemically that the human body transforms it into formaldehyde, instead of into the similar chemical acetaldehyde that the body is equipped to break down and excrete.
Drinking methanol results in a rapid buildup of formaldehyde in the body that can cause rapid blindness, organ failure and death. If one escapes death, the likelihood of brain damage and neural problems is high.
Ironically, ethyl alcohol (beverage alcohol) is the antidote of choice for methanol poisoning, as the body will metabolize the ethanol first, slowing down the absorption of the methanol and allowing the body to deal with it more slowly.
I wouldn’t put much stock in the assertion that regenerated alkaline water has any health effects unless the water were so alkaline as to be caustic. Koreans similarly believe that a small piece of metal, affixed to the cell phone by adhesive, will somehow protect the cell phone user from radiation. The Korean Bar Association gave out such knick-knacks at a lawyers’ conference I recently attended, and let me tell you — eyes were rolling as the “benefits” of this piece of crap were explained.
Methanol in fermented beverages is produced when yeast reduce formaldehyde. Yeast simply cannot oxidize sugar to produce it — from sugar, they can only make ethanol. All plants contain some amount of formaldehyde, but it is especially concentrated in fruits. In practice, the only way to become poisoned from a fermented and distilled product (besides the usual ethanol toxicity), is to drink the the most volatile distillates of a fruit fermentation.
Now, in fermentation, the most volatile (and potentially toxic) compounds will boil off first. They are always discarded, just to be safe. Once the non-toxic distillates are condensed, the compounds become well-mixed. They do not separate out based on density, the way a layered drink does. So, pouring off the top of your bottle of soju will only waste some of the drink you just bought. In fact, pouring off the top of your soju is a sure sign that you lack a basic high-school-level understanding of the world that you live in.
Soju, even the highly-derivative sweet pototo-based crap that is sold in Korea and the States, simply will not contain any toxins besides ethanol. Water alkalinity affects certain enzymatic reactions during the mash, which is the process in which plant starches are converted to sugars. But alkalinity of water is neither healthful nor harmful to drinkers. Alkalinity refers to the buffering power of a liquid — how strongly it can resist changes to pH, the concentration of protons. Your body already has a highly-regulated system for controlling its pH, and you will be fine, regardless of whether you drink very soft water from a mountain spring, or very alkaline water from a limestone aquifer.
Just think about it: if water alkalinity really affected your health, then people who live in mountains would be healthier than people who live in places that are ancient seabeds, like the Southeast of England and the Midwest of the US. This simply isn’t the case!
Once again — bottled liquids are typically well-mixed. Pouring off the top of a bottle is a sign of physical illiteracy.
Oh, and formaldehyde is NEVER added to beer! The fact that Year of the Dragon stated this as if it were a fact should be a big red flag to readers.
Beer is preserved by its low pH, ~4.5, and its ethanol concentration, 3-12%. Pathogens cannot live in these conditions, so there is no need to add additional preservatives. Moreover, formaldehyde is never added to food products as a preservative. Why would one add a directly toxic chemical when sorbate, sulfate, nitrites, and nitrates will do the trick?
Formaldehyde is present in small amounts in fruit juices, though, especially orange juice. If you’ve ever noticed, the levels at which formaldehyde is present in these juices is not enough to act as a preservative, as fruit juices easily ferment.
Should we separately add formaldehyde to our morning juice?
RED FLAG!! RED FLAG ALERT!!!!
# 4
http://tiny.cc/b6jgbw
http://tiny.cc/r6jgbw
Google it – apparently I am correct…. http://tiny.cc/r6jgbw
Why not spend the money and buy something like Hwayo 54 or others like it instead of the cheap stuff in the green bottle?
I preserved some 유자 껍질 for cooking this year and selected several bottles of inexpensive vodka because it was a better quality alcohol than cheap soju.
You mean chilsung original or classic? My local watering hole hasn’t had original as of late so I’m stuck with classic blaaah.
Yeah, water is a real problem. The NYT reports Millions in U.S. Drink Dirty Water, Records Show:
I got a better idea. Buy…a…bottle…of…Scotch! Why the hell would you drink soju, any kind, in the first place? I realize it has a small, corrosive benefit when washing down pig fat, but other than that it is cheap, crudely distilled rotgut that delivers a cheap, crude buzz. Jesus, back in the day I knew old Ukrainian farmers who made better swill out in their machine shops.
Robert neff was it Gombawu (Bohae Brewery) that you were advised against drinking?
Anybody else get the feeling that YotD and Q’s posts cancel each other out?
@12
You take exception to my views on soju? Oh my, I didn’t realize I would offend. My sincere apologies. BTW, “fucking” is spelled with a “u” not a “_”. Are you trying to spare our delicate sensibilities? Or are you illiterate?
Anybody else get the feeling that are6729 and Angusmack’s posts cancels Hamel’s out?
#11 Iwshim,
Not really sure but for some reason I seem to recall that it was Jinro – the one with the frog or toad on it. I have never been much of a soju drinker so I wasn’t really concerned that much about it. For the old timers – do you remember when Jungle Juice was banned (at least in my area)?
#15: imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, mate.
Bohae is the oldest commercial distiller of soju in Korea (Mokpo) and sells some of the best concentrates for plum and 유자 available. You can still see the original hand-cut stone building that was the original distillery close to the train station in Mokpo, though it is in what is now used as a parking lot.
# 17: I dont see the similarities, are we even on the same track?
#1 YotD, if you cut and paste something at least have the decency to cite your source.
I told you to google it – do you need instructions on how to google?
Whilst you are at it… google Devadasism – you might learn something new…
Let me see… you Google a bunch of shit from who knows what sources, you cut and paste it as if you were an authority on the subject, then you backpedal and tell everyone to Google it to verify its accuracy. Fail. Google “credibility” – you might learn something.
Angusmack—I believe that person is a robot troll. Ignore it.
I am the commander!
I’m pretty sure that was an urban legend made up by US GIs – and not something that Koreans ever thought. It’s not uncommon to hear old timers working at US bases to continue to perpetuate this myth.
Soju brands used to be very local – and you typically only had access to your local brand. There were no distribution chains to transport outside of the local distilling area. But even if there were – soju drinkers were very loyal to their local brand.
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