Federal Agency Approves Powdered Alcohol For Sale In U.S. — But Your State Might Still Ban It

After reversing its initial approval of Palcohol last year, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau has once again approved the powdered alcohol product, making it likely that it could appear on shelves in some stores this spring.

A spokesman for the bureau told the Associated Press that the issues with Palcohol’s label had been resolved, and the product is now approved. He notes that the bureau’s evaluation focuses on whether or not the labels accurately represent the ingredients in the product, rather than judging its potential for abuse.

The product’s maker confirmed the approval as well.

“Over the last 10 months I’ve been working with the TTB to work out all of the issues to make a powdered alcohol product conform to laws that classified alcohol as liquid,” Palcohol’s creator Mark Phillips told The Spirits Business. “It’s done. The FDA and TTB have reviewed and tested Palcohol every which way and they’ve given me the green light to sell it in the United States.”

However, as the bureau spokesman pointed out, states can also regulate alcohol sales — and many have already done so ahead of Palcohol’s approval: Alaska, Delaware, Louisiana, South Carolina and Vermont have banned it, while Colorado advanced legislation last month to temporarily halt its sale.

Lawmakers in Iowa, Ohio, Rhode Island and Utah are also moving to ban the product.

If it isn’t banned in your state, you could soon be mixing up a cocktail from powder, as the Food and Drug Administration won’t be stepping up against it, saying it doesn’t have the legal basis to block it after checking out the non-alcoholic ingredients in the powder.

Powdered alcohol gets federal agency’s approval [Associated Press]

PALCOHOL APPROVED FOR SALE IN THE US [The Spirits Business]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist