Fireball Whiskey has always been a frat row favorite, especially for those who are willing to throw a little more for something other than “Vlad”. It is a popular beverage of choice and is usually mixed with apple cider (or if you’re a college kid then a coke from the vending machine is fine too). We as the consumer know what we are mixing our beverage with, but do we really know what is inside the beverage itself?
On October 28, 2014 Fireball Whiskey was recalled in 3 different European countries for containing high levels of propylene glycol. Propylene glycol is a chemical commonly used in antifreeze in high levels. Propylene Glycol is not only used in antifreeze, it is also used in some foods, sweeteners and other alcoholic beverages. Surprisingly, there are two recipes for Fireball Whiskey. One recipe is for the Canada and the United States, and the other is for Europe. The European recipe contains smaller amounts of Propylene, if any at all. The United States and Canadian version of Fireball was sent to European manufacturers and recalled instantly.
A study done by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) states that the chemical can be consumed “over long periods of time and in substantial quantities without causing frank toxic effects.” Recently it has been released that the European Fireball Whiskey contains 1/8 of the amount the FDA allows for consumption of Propylene Glycol. The recipes in the United States and in Canada do not meet the same regulation requirements as needed in Europe. The recall on Fireball Whiskey is a retrospective study because they have looked back on the previous records of fireball and the ingredients. After plenty of research (and I’m sure taste tests), Fireball is deemed safe to consume in all countries. Fireball Whiskey is now back on the shelves in Europe, and is still continuing to be “downed” here.
As bad as it sounds, I do not believe people would stop drinking fireball even if it did contain high levels of a dangerous chemical. Propylene Glycol is in many of our foods and drinks. Studies show we consume Propylene Glycol almost every day. As long as the chemical is not affecting us in a negative way, I think Fireball should stay on the market and continue to be a Frat Row favorite.
http://www.latimes.com/food/dailydish/la-dd-fireball-recalled-european-countries-antifreeze-20141029-story.html
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/10/28/frathouse-favorite-fireball-whiskey-recalled-in-europe.html
I heard about this situation a couple of days ago and was honestly very surprised. I think this was a very good blog post to use because many college students will be interested in the recall of alcohol products, because of the high consumption rates among college students. A couple of years ago there was a recall for the four loko alcoholic beverage, it contained an incredibly high alcohol level. Even though this has been made to seem dangerous I don’t believe this will lessen the consumption of this particular beverage, I know for a fact it didn’t with the four loko product. There’s no word of a United States recall as of now, and the amount of Propylene glycol in fireball isn’t close to the cutoff established by the FDA, which I think is extremely interesting and quite odd that Europe is more strict with this. Here is a link to the Huffington post article that further addresses the recall of fireball, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/29/fireball-whiskey-recall_n_6067486.html
I can’t believe this happened! However, I feel as if people are overreacting to the issue. Yes, there may be toxic chemicals in Fireball that could have long term effects but how often do you need to drink Fireball for those effects to take place? The average college student probably only consumes Fireball once a month at the least (I don’t think many people choose to drink this every weekend) so I am not sure how harmful it really is. The scary thing that I did not know was that there were two different types of Fireball. That has me questioning a lot more now! Here is a pretty funny article making fun of peoples reaction to the recall. http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/the-great-fireball-panic-of-2014
Not only is fireball a frat row favorite, it is my moms favorite. Every time my mom attends a cold football game, she always brings out the fireball and was pretty upset to hear it was recalled. http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/fireball-whisky-recalled-in-europe-for-ingredient-american-officials-not-worried/ This contains a video that talks about this!
I recently heard about it and thought it was pretty crazy! It’s scary that Europe holds higher standards that our drug and food administration does. The Europeans health is worth more than ours? That seems a little messed up to me. I’m glad you picked this topic because I think it’s very prevalent to all of us college students. When I looked up the fireball story, so many articles popped up about this topic. Huffington Post reported in July 2013 about how popular Fireball has become in the recent years. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/29/fireball-whisky_n_3672309.html
Since then, I have no doubt that it has grown even more. The fact that people are starting to consume it more and more makes me believe that people really need to pay attention to this warning.