After counterfeit Lafite wine, Chinese counterfeiters have concocted the famous vodka brand Stolichnaya. Stolichnaya does have its roots in Russia, but is now produced in Latvia by SPI Cyprus.
China Daily (U.S. edition) run with Xinhua’s news post which covered an enforcement action by the Tianjin Customs Office, in Tianjin Municipality against counterfeit Stolichnaya vodka. More than 18,600 counterfeit bottles were destroyed. Read here.
One way ferry ticket to the sky
In the brief article an official with the Tianjin Customs Office, Shi Guowang, is quoted saying: “Such serious case is very rare in China and it shows the country is a victim of piracy, which is a global issue.” Indeed, the scale of counterfeit vodka caught is rare, but the frequency of counterfeit cases in China is not. No word was spent on the considerable health risks involved with counterfeit drinks. These counterfeit vodkas often are made of methylated spirits, which is an industrial alcohol (denatured alcohol), and to distinguish it from alcohol for consumption, the manufacturers color it purple. To get rid of this color, counterfeiters bleach it. Tianjin’s name in connection with the lethal concoction is suitable. In Chinese Tian 天 Jin 津 means sky ferry. The two ingredients can on their own “merits” kill you, let alone a combination. Then again, there are vodkas produced by non-counterfeit manufacturers, that will not kill you or blind you directly, unless you finish the whole bottle, that are made purple or are served in a purple bottle, and marketed as a trendy drink.
The dramatic expression in the Xinhua article that China is also a victim of piracy is true. And that it is a global issue is also true. However, one cannot neglect the fact that the majority of counterfeits globally originate from China, and therefore, if one insists on personalizing the role of some to a whole country, as the author of the article does, one must be complete and state that China’s role is victim and perpetrator at the same time.
The question remains how to distinguish a potentially lethal counterfeit vodka from an authentic one. There are some ways such as barcodes that can be verified by the purchasers via a picture made by a mobile phone. But even then, the bottle can be real, but the contents poisonous. Therefore, as this author pointed out before, one should always destroy the old bottle. Or providers should make deals with restaurants to return the bottles.
Capital punishments is hopefully on its way out in China. Instead some might argue that the counterfeiters of food and drinks should be given a diet of their own products during their prison sentence.
Is it certain that the counterfeited vodka actualy comes from China ?
Russia itself is notorious for counterfeited vodkas, to such an extent that the government has enforced a strict – but still not strict enough – labelling policy.