Ethanol, methanol, acid content and other quality parameters of Ethiopian traditional fermented, distilled and factory-produced alcoholic beverages

Abstract

Five brands of Ethiopian traditional fermented alcoholic beverages, ten brands of traditional distilled alcoholic beverages and five brands of factory produced alcoholic beverages were collected from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for the measurement of their ethanol, methanol, solid, salinity contents, acidity, pH and electrical conductivity. The overall average values of pH, ethanol% (v/v), acidic content (g/L), solid content (mg/L), conductivity (μS/cm) and salinity (%) in all brands of the beverages studied were found in the range of 4.6-7.5, 2.80-51.2, 0.02-105, 0.00-20328, 5.87-8391 and 0.1-4.6, respectively. The methanol contents of the beverages were determined using gc-ms. The results showed that the level of methanol in some brands of the studied traditional distilled and factory produced alcoholic beverages were found in the range between 0.867-0.979% (v/v). However, methanol was not found in all of the analyzed traditional fermented beverages. Therefore, the studied traditional fermented beverages do not pose any health threat to the human health due to methanol. However, the normal alcohol health risk associated with high consumption of beverages remains a problem.