Food safety authority issues second warning against MDMA in champagne bottles

The Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) has issued another warning for 3-liter champagne bottles from the brand Moët & Chandon Ice Impérial, because they could contain the drug MDMA. Four people in the Netherlands have already become ill after drinking the contaminated champagne, according to the NVWA. In Germany, someone died from it.

The NVWA previously called on people to be careful with champagne bottles that have production code LAJ7QAB6780004 on the back. Now bottles with the code LAK5SAA6490005 should also be avoided. According to the authority, when it is poured, it is obvious the drink is not champagne. The MDMA-contaminated drink does not fizz, is reddish-brown and smells like anise.

It is not known how the drug got into the champagne bottles. "The NVWA is therefore unable to estimate whether there are even more of these bottles with the hazardous substance in circulation. It cannot be ruled out that other bottles of the same brand that also contain MDMA are in circulation," the authority said earlier.

In the cases where people became ill, the bottles were said to have been sold through an as yet unknown website. The NVWA has informed all regulators in the European Union.