The Wine Group: All Our Wines are Safe for Consumption

The news of a class action lawsuit filed in California that alleges many inexpensive brands of wine contain dangerously high levels of arsenic has caused quite a stir.

The case is based on allegations made by just one group, however consumers far and wide are looking for answers.

Trader Joe’s, a well known distributor of the Charles Shaw brand of wine said in a statement to Patch that they had no reason to believe the wines they offer are unsafe including Charles Shaw White Zinfandel, a wine named in the complaint.

Livermore-based The Wine Group, one of the defendants named in the lawsuits which owns Franzia, Cupcake, Concannon, Almaden, Fisheye and Flipflop, all brands cited in the lawsuits issued a statement to a Connecticut Patch reader who reached out specifically to Almaden Winery.

Related:

• Drink Any of These Calif. Wines? They Contain Poisonous Arsenic, Class-Action Suit Alleges
• Full List: Wines Named In A Lawsuit Over High Levels Of Arsenic
• Trader Joe’s: No Reason to Believe The Wines We Offer Are Unsafe

The group said they believe the allegations that the wines produced by their company pose a risk to the health and safety of their consumers as they contain trace amounts of arsenic are false and that all of their wines are safe for consumption.

The lawsuit states that the majority of responsible California wineries limit the amount of inorganic arsenic to trace levels considered acceptable, if not completely safe. However it alleges that the defendants named in the action, including The Wine Group produce and market wines that contain dangerously high levels of inorganic arsenic as confirmed by three separate testing laboratories skilled in arsenic testing.

The statement further reads:

“The basis of the complaint is that certain wines contain more than 10 parts per billion (ppb) of arsenic, which is the limit established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) for drinking water. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has the same limit for bottled water and has published different guidelines on acceptable levels of arsenic in rice and pear and apple juice. However, the U.S. government has not published a limit for arsenic in wine or any other beverage alcohol product, the statement reads. “When the U.S. government considers limits for arsenic in food and beverages, they take into account intake levels (i.e. how much of that food/beverage an average person may consume in a day) and the age of people who likely consume that food/beverage. As you would expect, daily intake levels for water are significantly higher than for wine and there is no scientific basis to use the EPA/FDA standard for arsenic in water and apply that same standard to wine.”

“Additionally, it is misleading to claim that wines with trace amounts of arsenic above the U.S. government standard for drinking water are unsafe. After all, people do not consume wine in the same amounts as water. Health experts recommend people consume eight or more eight ounce glasses of water daily, that is more than 64 ounces of water each day. But people do not drink nearly that amount of wine on a daily basis and we strongly encourage consumers to drink wine in moderation and with food.”

One of the wines sold by the company, Franzia White Grenache had 50.7 parts-per-billion of arsenic when tested, according to a laboratory that analyzes wine who was interviewed by CBS News. The EPA’s standard for arsenic in drinking water is currently 10 parts-per-billion.

Photo by Gellscom, via flickr creative commons