The Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) warns against champagne bottles containing the “possibly life-threatening” hard drug MDMA. The authority announced this on Thursday evening. It concerns the three liter bottles of the brand Moët & Chandon called ‘Ice Imperial’. According to the NVWA, other types of champagne of the brand may also be contaminated.
The NVWA “recently” received two reports, one from Germany and the other from the Netherlands, of consumers who had drunk champagne that turned out to contain the hard drug. In Germany, seven people became seriously ill and one person died. In the Netherlands, the incident led to four seriously ill.
It is not known how the drug ended up in the bottles. In both the German and Dutch cases, the bottles were allegedly purchased ‘via a hitherto unknown website’. The NVWA is therefore unable to estimate whether there are more and other versions of Moët & Chandon champagne bottles in circulation that also contain the drug. The authority claims to have informed the champagne manufacturer of the incidents.
does not fizz
The NVWA warns consumers about the bottles in question with the code LAJ7QAB6780004, which can be found on the label of the bottle. Although bottles filled with MDMA don’t look any different from the outside, the food authority advises you to pay close attention when pouring the drink. Champagne containing MDMA does not fizz when poured, has an aniseed scent and is red-brown in colour.
MDMA, which is also a component of the party drug ecstasy, can be life-threatening, especially in unknown quantities. In the short term, it can cause the body to overheat, cause water intoxication if users drink too much water at the same time, and cause psychological distress. In rare cases, it can also lead to liver damage or acute liver failure.