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Hello all

I emailed you 2 weeks ago to warn you that there was a risk that some Argentinean wines contained traces of an anti-biotic called Natamycin, E235.

I also said that it may well turn out to be a storm in a teacup and it has rather!

Since then...
- We have had 100% of our Argentinean and South African wines (88 in all) tested Natamycin by http://www.fera.defra.gov.uk/.
- 87/88 wines were clear of natamycin
- The Food Standards Agency has issued guidance saying “Analysis results to date reveal that this is present in small quantities, less than 0.5 mg/kg, and a risk assessment conducted by the FSA has concluded that this presents negligible risk to health”

The one wine that did have traces was a Torrontes from Mauricio Lorca, which was measured as containing 1/180th of the allowable daily intake. Having discussed this with Mauricio (who by the way is a very straight guy) and Wines of Argentina, the Argentine trade body, I am comfortable that these traces are from a cleaning agent used to clean the winery rather than an additive. I have not tried drinking 180 bottles of his wines a day, but I feel very confident that if you did, Natamycin would be the least of your concerns! But, if you are concerned and would like a refund, please do call us and we will be pleased to do so.

From now on we will be testing all wines for natamycin before they are imported. In the meantime we will label all Argentinean wines either “tested nm free” or “contains E235” so that you can see which is which.

If you have any further questions please come back to me

Regards

Rowan

Rowan (Staff) 15:56 11/12/2009 Comment