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Fake alcohol

How not to spoil the holiday

From January to July 2016, 4.5 thousand people died from alcohol poisoning in Russia. The reason was not only vodka based on technical alcohol, but also powder whiskey, brandy tinted with sawdust and wine made from apple juice with alcohol.

Asya Human

marketer

Finding out the quality of alcohol before you are taken away in the ambulance is quite problematic. To maintain health, let's figure out how to identify a fake.

Bottle appearance

Let's say Oleg Tinkov produces Tinkoffsky cognac. The vineyards and the plant are located in Russia, therefore, as connoisseurs will notice, Tinkoffsky is, strictly speaking, a brandy.

To make the best brandy in Russia, no worse than that from the Cognac province, Oleg studied the Charente technology of cognac production, bought the French equipment "Prulot", brought barrels from the seventy-year-old Tronsey oak, built a plant in Crimea, grew vineyards with the varieties "fol-blanche "And" colombar ", and he wrote the masters of assemblage from Armenia.

Oleg started production himself and gave the drink his own name, because he is responsible for quality. Any fake is a blow to his name, so Oleg tries to protect his product and is attentive to details. This can be seen even from the bottles in which the drink is poured.

Before buying expensive alcohol, open the official website of the manufacturer - there are enough photographs that show the shape of the bottle, features of the labels, details of the engravings. It is difficult to forge all the details and markings on the bottle. Here's what you'll notice:

What you should look for when buying a bottle

Oleg Tinkov's signature on shrink film

A bottle in the shape of the Tinkoff Bank coat of arms

Embossed name label

Excise stamp "Cognac" with the name of the drink, the manufacturer and the volume of the container

Counter-label with a description of the drink, composition and storage conditions

Embossed name of cognac

Unfortunately, even the original bottle does not guarantee the quality of the contents. Ibey sells empty used bottles from famous drinks. And a fake drink can be made from concentrate and alcohol:

Excise stamp

An excise stamp is a sign that the manufacturer has paid alcohol tax. The state knows that such a bottle exists, and, in theory, is responsible for the quality of its contents. However, last year, 15 million decaliters of alcohol with counterfeit brands were sold in Russia. Even if taxes were not paid for these bottles, the unknown is much worse - what kind of liquid was bottled.

Drinks are classified by strength and composition; excise taxes for each class differ in color. There are four main excise stamps for spirits, and nine for wine. FS PAP even issued a brochure describing each brand.

Some of the excise taxes appeared only in 2015, so in the store you will more often find cognac with the “Spirits” brand than “Cognac”. And sake can turn out to be both a "wine drink" and "an alcoholic drink over 9 to 25%." All this is confusing.

It is easier to check the brand using the application of the Federal Service "Rosalkogolregulirovanie" - "AntiKontrafakt Alko". It is available for iPhones, smartphones on Android and Windows. The iPhone app is currently unavailable, but may be available later.

If you fundamentally do not want to install the FS PAP application, check that the stamp has a hologram and a barcode, the color is not solid, and the name coincides with the content declared on the label. The brand should fit snugly on the bottle, it is made on an adhesive basis. If the brand is a little peeled off, it is better not to take the drink.

Check in store

Since July 1, 2016, the alcohol sales control system - EGAIS has been in effect in Russia, its use is mandatory for all alcohol sellers.

The EGAIS system receives data from manufacturers, importers, wholesale suppliers and retail stores. For violation of the rules, legal entities are fined in the amount of 150,000 to 200,000 rubles.

Sellers who work according to the rules issue a special receipt with a QR code.

EGAIS check will not be issued:

• if you buy beer;
• if you ordered alcohol in a cafe or restaurant;
• if you buy alcohol in a village for up to 3 thousand people: there, these checks will begin to be issued only from July 2017.

In the cities of Crimea, the EGAIS will work only from 2017, and in small settlements on the peninsula - from 2018.

In other cases - if you are not in the Crimea, not in the village and you buy alcohol stronger than beer - the seller is obliged to issue a check. Such a check is a guarantee that legal alcohol is being sold to you.

Before buying alcohol, ask the seller if they work at EGAIS. If they don't work, leave. If a store sells alcohol without EGAIS, most likely the supplier did not enter it into the system either. Hardly anyone will answer for the quality of the "invisible" alcohol.

If the store operates according to the rules, the seller first scans the barcode, then the excise stamp, and then issues a special receipt with a QR code.

Regular check

Regular check

Check EGAIS

"Signature" of the cash register on which the check is punched

To read the QR code, you need to install the program on your smartphone - the aforementioned Anti-Counterfeiting Alco FS RAR or a regular scanner. I am using a Kaspersky Lab application, but the tool is not important here. If you do not want to install anything or QR is not readable - this also happens - type the link from the check directly in the browser line.

The link will open the FTS website: pay attention to the date and time of the sale - it should not differ from the real one. The information in the block "Series and stamps numbers" must match the inscription on the label and with the data on the excise stamp.

Check the date and time of purchase

The same text should be on the stamp

If you are given a check with the correct information, the alcohol is real. The store would not be able to accept and sell alcohol that is not in the state register.

When to check

You need to check the bottle against the excise stamp before you take it to the checkout.

Alcohol, like other food products, cannot be replaced or returned. Therefore, if you gave the money, then the seller may refuse to accept the drink back and return the money.

In this case, you can try to refuse the transaction: failure to issue a check or incorrect information on it can be considered a violation of the consumer's right to receive information.

If you can't refuse the purchase, just warn the seller about what you will do next. And you need to act like this:

1. Write a statement to the FS RAR and Rospotrebnadzor.
2. If the FS RAR application is installed, report the violation through it.
3. If there is no application, then report the incident to the FS RAR portal. In the application, write that you were sold alcohol without an EGAIS check, indicate the date, the address of the store, attach a photo of the bottle and the check, if you were given a regular one.

And, of course, do not drink if there is even the slightest doubt about the authenticity of the drink.

The smell of the drink

If you do not have the sense of smell and experience of a sommelier, then you will hardly be able to distinguish by smell - it is French cognac or something spilled at a small factory in the Moscow region.

If you are lucky enough to have a keen sense of smell, then let the drink stand in the glass for a few minutes. The aroma disappeared, but the smell of alcohol remained - in front of you is a fake, do not risk it.

In the production of counterfeit alcohol, methyl alcohol is often used instead of ethyl alcohol, which does not differ in smell and taste. Methyl alcohol is a technical alcohol that, when it enters the human body, decomposes to hazardous substances - formaldehyde and formic acid. 30 ml of methyl alcohol will kill a healthy adult male.

Symptoms of methyl alcohol poisoning: nausea, vomiting, shortness of breath, visual impairment, pain throughout the body. If you feel that this is happening to you - call an ambulance before it's too late. Doctors will wash the stomach and pour in ethyl alcohol.

Remember

1. Pay attention to the price. Elite alcohol for 500 rubles is a fake.
2. If you are going to buy expensive alcohol, check the manufacturer's website for what the bottle looks like.
3. If you know that you will buy alcohol in an unfamiliar place, download the Anti-Counterfeiting Alco application in advance - iPhone (not available now), Android and Windows. You can use it to check both the excise stamp and the check.
4. Check the excise stamps: they must be tightly glued, have a hologram, a batch number, and the color must match the content.
5. Ask if the store is open for EGAIS. Doesn't work - don't buy.
6. If you have not been given an EGAIS check with a QR code, warn the seller that you will complain to Rospotrebnadzor and FS RAR.
7. If you have been given a check with a QR code, be sure to check it. If the code cannot be read, try entering the link below it.
8. Always check whether the data on the link matches what is indicated on the paper receipt: TIN of the store, date and time of sale, position in the receipt.

Consultants: prof. Georgy Alexandrovich Livanov, prof. Alexander Nikolaevich Petrov, lawyer Vladimir Belyaev

No questionable shops and semi-standard stalls. Buy alcohol from retail chains that monitor reputation and carefully select suppliers. Roughly speaking, if there are expired goods on the shelves in the supermarket, then alcohol there must be chosen with particular pickiness.

When buying alcohol, you should always be given a check, and ideally, ask for a passport, even if you have not looked like a schoolboy for a long time.

Price

A very good thing is not cheap. If you are offered an aged French cognac for 800 rubles, there is something wrong. If you want to buy an expensive one, first look at how much it costs, compare prices on the Internet, do not run for a good price.

It is not interesting to counterfeit absolutely cheap alcohol of unreported brands, it is more likely that it will initially be of poor quality. So grab good drinks after checking the authenticity.

Bottle

Branded alcohol is poured into special bottles with an unusual shape, edges on the neck, and embossed inscriptions. If you want to buy alcohol of a specific well-known brand, try to find the manufacturer's website and evaluate how the bottle differs from any other.

Pay attention to:

• Cover material. Made of plastic, metal or cork, whether the lid is wrapped or not, flat or embossed, flat or convex. The lid of good alcohol does not scroll, does not flow. There is a number on the lids of vodka bottles by which the bottle can be checked for authenticity on the manufacturer's website.
• Neck shape. Long or short, with or without edges. A dispenser bottle is a sign that it was made in a factory and not underground.
• Bottle shape. Pay attention to the curves, bottle shoulders, bottom contours.
• Embossed inscriptions and images. On expensive alcohol, there are often inscriptions with the name of the drink, symbols of a trading house, and other designations. On fakes, these inscriptions either do not repeat at all, or they do not reproduce everything, or they confuse the place of application.

Excise stamp

The excise stamp is printed on special paper with colored fibers, all numbers and codes on it are clear, clearly visible and legible. The stamp must be glued absolutely evenly.

Excise stamps should be checked by organizations that have a license to trade in alcohol. For you and me, there is the service of the Unified Social Portal of the alcohol market.

Enter the numbers from the excise stamp and check if the brand matches the product. The service works in test mode, that is, apparently, its data does not always correspond to reality. However, we have tested five bottles produced and purchased in different locations, and they all passed the test.

Label

A quality alcohol label is made on good paper, often with embossed or intricate elements.

If you are looking for a specific brand, compare the order in which the information should appear on the label. On branded products, all labels repeat the pattern, and product names are accompanied by a registered trademark icon.

Be sure to indicate the address of the manufacturer (legal and place of production), composition, there must be references to regulatory documents.

Bottle content

This can help if you are buying alcohol in a clear glass bottle and you know what the desired drink looks like.

• Cognac, if you turn the bottle over, leaves an oily streak on the glass. They are called cognac legs.
• Good whiskey behaves the same way. It must be remembered that whiskey is a transparent drink, there should not be any sediment or flakes.
• Vodka - only clear, no sediment.

But by the appearance of the drink, you can only distinguish a completely artisanal fake.

Here we are talking only about fakes, but sometimes there is also just low-quality alcohol, for example, wine made from a mixture of alcohol with dyes and flavors. Only reading the label with the composition will help here, an indication of the GOSTs according to which the alcohol is made. And your feelings. If you have opened a bottle and it seems to you that something is wrong, do not finish drinking and do not check. It is better to lose money than health.

The Most Effective Way to Protect Against Bad Alcohol

They know how to counterfeit everything, including excise stamps. Therefore, the most effective way to protect yourself from bad alcohol is to choose the place of purchase and alcohol, which you can check on the manufacturer's website.

How to recognize methyl alcohol

No way. Although there are recipes for determining methanol.

Dip a heated copper wire in alcohol, for example. When methanol reacts with copper, it will release formaldehyde, and you will smell a pungent smell. Ethanol doesn't behave like that. But ethanol will smell too, albeit not so disgusting. There is also an option with setting fire to alcohol and detecting the shade of the flame (methanol burns greenish).

These methods work when you are comparing two pure spirits. And methanol can be added to alcohol in different proportions, diluted and mixed with dyes, flavors and ethanol.

Symptoms of methyl alcohol poisoning

At first, methanol poisoning does not differ from alcohol poisoning: dizziness, nausea, headache. Then there are warning signs:

• Pain all over the body.
• Loss of vision.
• Dyspnea.
• Cardiopalmus.

What to do to avoid methanol poisoning

1. Drink only alcohol from trusted places and only high quality.
2. Never get drunk to such a state that you miss the first signs of poisoning, that is, until you lose ground and nausea.
3. In case of symptoms of poisoning, urgently call an ambulance and get to the doctors.
4. Before the arrival of doctors, provide first aid for.

Although regular ethanol can help inhibit industrial alcohol poisoning, do not self-medicate with alcohol.

Each barcode is globally unique and contains basic information about the product. The barcode is the main part of automated identification technology. Identification (from the Latin word identifico - to identify) is the identification of an unknown object by the coincidence of features with a known object; it is the process of comparing an object with some standard. The word "code" itself means that information about an object (product, document, etc.) is encrypted in the barcode. In Russia, mainly 2 types of barcodes are used: 13-bit codes of the European EAN system, introduced in 1986, and coding systems for settlement and payment documents, compatible with EAN.

Barcode verification is a necessary attribute of the lifestyle of a modern person who wants to buy only genuine products. Using this service, you can identify a fake. Another advantage of the service is the determination of the country of origin. Why buy a product claimed to be made in France, which is in fact a typical Chinese consumer goods.

Enter product barcode

* It is not uncommon to see an inscription on the product, for example, "Made in France", but the barcode does not correspond to this country. There may be several reasons.

1. The company was registered and received a code not in its own country, but in the one where the main export of its products was directed;
2. The product was manufactured in a subsidiary;
3. Perhaps the product was manufactured in one country, but under the license of a firm from another country;
4. When several firms from different countries become founders of an enterprise;

An application for detecting counterfeit alcohol has been launched in Russia

Smartphone owners can check the legality of alcohol in shops, cafes and restaurants.

As stated on the website of the project "Be mobile", the federal service "Rosalkogolregulirovanie" has released the application "Anti-Counterfeit Alco" for devices running on Android, iOS and Windows Phone. The program will allow you to verify the authenticity of information on federal special stamps and excise stamps. Data via the Internet is requested from EGAIS. The application allows you to scan the barcode on the stamp, after which you can immediately report the violation. It also has a map of shops licensed to sell alcohol.

How does EGAIS work

All producers and importers of alcohol mark each unit of the product (keg, bottle). The manufacturer glues federal special stamps, and the importer glues excise stamps. A two-dimensional barcode on each bottle contains the name of the alcoholic beverages, information about the manufacturer, licenses, date of bottling of the drink and other unique characteristics.

To meet the technical requirements, each outlet must have a computer with a universal transport module and an Internet connection. When selling alcohol, a cashier reads a barcode from a bottle with a scanner. The cash register program of the store sends information from the barcode via the Internet to the server of the federal service for verification. After a successful check, the system generates a unique QR code for the receipt and the alcohol is dispensed to the buyer. The buyer receives a check with this code (even if he bought several bottles of alcohol, one QR code is printed on the check).

How to check the legality of alcohol

In order to check the legality of purchased alcoholic beverages in a store, cafe, restaurant, or any other point, you need to install the free Anti-Counterfeit Alco application on your smartphone. The program can be downloaded from the stores Google Play, App Store, Windows Phone.

After installing the application on your smartphone, you need to launch it. Then you need to register. A map with legal points of sale of alcohol will appear in the start window. The map can be transformed into a list with specific locations and geo-referencing to your location.

At the bottom of the screen is the Scan tab. When you go to this tab, the camera of the mobile device is activated. The program will offer to point the camera at the brand barcode, or the QR code of the receipt, which was sent to the buyer by the seller. When you point the camera at a barcode or QR code, information about the product and its path from the manufacturer to the outlet appears on the smartphone screen. If the information is missing, it means that the product is counterfeit.

In the Anti-Counterfeit Alco application there is a function of notification about illegal point of sale of alcohol, as well as counterfeit products. To do this, just click on the "Notify" button: a completed form will open with the exact coordinates of the place to which you can attach a photo and your comment.