ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 26, 1990                   TAG: 9004260201
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: C5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

WINE IMPORTER PLANS LAWSUIT OVER RECALL

Nearly five years after Banfi Products Corp., the importer of Riunite wines, recalled 1.3 million cases of wine because it contained traces of a toxic chemical, the New York company wants to sue the federal government for millions of dollars in losses that resulted from the recall.

Rep. Robert Mrazek, D-N.Y., has come to the aid of the company, located in his district, by introducing legislation that says the recall was based on an erroneous fear by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms that the wines posed a health hazard.

Under pressure from the BATF, Banfi recalled 1.3 million cases of the wine in November 1985, despite the company's belief that the trace amounts of diethylene glycol in its wine - less than 10 parts per million - were not harmful. Diethylene glycol, a solvent found in antifreeze, can be used as a sweetening agent.

In 1986, the FDA concluded that wines containing 160 parts per million or less would not be a hazard to health. - Newsday 


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