Palcohol, We Hardly Knew Ye: Feds Quickly Reverse Approval Of Powdered Alcohol

It’s been real.

Yesterday it was like you couldn’t turn around on the Internet without running into the hubbub about Palcohol, a powdered alcohol meant to be mixed with water sort of like Kool-Aid, but boozy. The astonishing thing? The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau had apparently blessed the product with its approval. That approval proved fleeting, as the agency reversed itself last night.

The agency’s director of congressional and public affairs, Tom Hogue, said in an email that the group had approved the powdered vodka, rum and other booze mixes “in error.” But he didn’t respond to further questions, reports CNNMoney.

The company behind Palcohol, Lipsmark, says that “there seemed to be a discrepancy [about] how much powder” is in each packet, and that it will resubmit the product for approval.

“We have been in touch with the TTB and there seemed to be a discrepancy on our fill level, how much powder is in the bag. There was a mutual agreement for us to surrender the labels,” says a statement on the Palcohol site. “This doesn’t mean that Palcohol isn’t approved. It just means that these labels aren’t approved. We will re-submit labels. We don’t have an expected approval date as label approval can vary widely.”

Critics of Palcohol say it could be dangerous due to its portability and the fact that it hasn’t been proven safe for use with food, which was reportedly something the product’s site mentioned before that recommendation was taken down yesterday.

The product would now need to get not only approval at the federal level (again), but states would also have to sanction it as well.

Regulator reverses approval of powdered alcohol [CNNMoney]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist