“I ate puff pastry bread and gargled” … Are there cases of alcohol consumption even though I don’t drink?

Check-in 2021.02.25 06:00

Recently, a 43-year-old office worker, Choi Mo, said that while returning home after working overtime, the police caught him drinking alcohol and delayed his return time by about 20 minutes. At that time, Choi was in a state of not taking a sip, but the alcohol detector detected the alcohol. It was because there was a small amount of alcohol (rum) in the puff pastry that I ate while working overtime. Using an alcoholic mouthwash instead of brushing after meals also had an effect.

Choi recalled that “I would only eat puff pastry and gargle, but even if I didn’t drink, I was so shocked that I was caught in the crackdown on drinking.” “When I re-measured my alcohol consumption after 20 minutes, I returned to normal and a sigh of relief.”

Although they did not drink alcohol during the police alcohol control process, the alcohol content in the body is often detected. This is because you ate food that contained alcohol without knowing the driver or used alcohol-based mouthwash.

On the 24th, a police officer in charge of the alcohol consumption control service explained: “This is widely known information among practitioners, and reactions to alcohol can occur when an offensive against alcohol consumption occurs only through the use of foods that contain alcohol or mouthwash.

“I always ask drivers who say they haven’t drunk whether they use mouthwash or eat foods that contain alcohol,” he said. Typical foods that contain alcohol include puff pastry, imported alcoholic chocolate, and fermented fruit juice.

However, in general, the alcohol in food is very small, making it difficult to detect alcohol. Reactions to alcohol can occur only when large amounts are consumed or when the time of measurement is approaching.

In fact, there have been cases of capture by eating or drinking. Alcoholic chocolate is typical. In 2016, in the city of Asan, Chungcheongnam-do, after eating alcoholic chocolate, A got behind the wheel and was in a car accident. At that time, the police measured Mr. A’s drinking status and it was reported that a number came out requiring the suspension of his license. Currently, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety restricts the addition of alcohol to domestic chocolate, so alcohol-containing products cannot be produced, but alcohol-containing chocolate is still produced and distributed abroad.

The problem is, without knowing that they have consumed alcohol, they are often caught up in alcohol control and their driver’s license is revoked or criminally sanctioned. Lee Chae-seung of the O’Kims law firm said: “Because you can revoke a license or punish drunk driving only if you drink intentionally, you can argue legally if you can show that you did not know you were drinking alcohol. He added: “Even if the blood alcohol level is high from eating, not alcohol, if the driver recognizes it, it is drunk driving.”

Recently, there is a story that the police drunk detector reacts simply by spraying or applying an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. However, alcohol on the skin can cause the breath detector to react, but it is not a problem, police say, because it is filtered by a breathalyzer that measures blood alcohol.

Similarly, if you are caught using mouthwash, it is unlikely to be a problem. This is because there is a working guide in place to make sure you should rinse your mouth with water if detected by a breath detector after use and measure your blood alcohol consumption.

These on-site guidelines were issued in 2006 after the Supreme Court ruling, “If the police ignore the defendant’s request for the opportunity to rinse their mouth with water and get rid of drunk driving by measuring it with a respirator , this cannot be determined as drunk driving. ” Occurred.

For one thing, even though he was caught driving drunk, there are cases where he claimed that he accidentally swallowed a mouthwash. Mouthwash is known to be high in alcohol content, so drinking it can affect blood alcohol levels. In 2014, when the Korean Consumer Agency analyzed the ingredients of 15 commercially available mouthwash products, alcohol was detected in 12 products and 3 products had an alcohol content of 15% or more, with an alcohol content of soju ( 17-20%).).

However, it is difficult to accept a false defense. In July last year, the court sentenced Mr. B to a prison term of one year in prison for violating the Road Traffic Law (drinking and driving) for complaining that he had a high concentration of alcohol in his blood when swallowing a oral cleanser. At that time, the court judged whether Mr. B’s argument was true by substituting the Widmark formula (a calculation formula for calculating the blood alcohol concentration after alcohol consumption).

An official from the National Police Agency said: “Even if the reaction to alcohol comes out of the drink detector due to food intake etc., the mouth is rinsed with water and re-measured with a breathalyzer 20 minutes later, and a blood sample. The test is done with the consent of the person himself. “We are taking the necessary measures so that there are no errors based on the method, so you can be sure.”