Absinth, the fashionable French beverage, has made something of a comeback in recent years. Its popularity has been fuelled by the dangerous image of the drink - 19th century literature is full of references to the fatal nature of excessive consumption - but are consumers still at risk even with today's modern production techniques?
The bitter green drink was popular because of the effects of one key ingredient, thujone, a natural ingredient of wormwood and wormwood oil (or absinth) produced from it. Thujone is a strong neurotoxin which can cause hallucinations, hence its popularity with turn-of-the-century Bohemians, but can also cause epileptic convulsions and severe mental damage.
Wormwood oil is also an ingredient in vermouth, which derives its name from the German word for wormwood, Chartreuse and Benedictine.
Not surprisingly, these side effects were the cause of absinth's decline in popularity, although the flavour of the drink lived on in anis - a product designed to offer a similar taste experience (using anise rather than wormwood oil) but without the potentially fatal side effects of thujone. In fact, Pernod was one of the leading brands of absinth before it was banned in Europe at the start of the 20th century.
But a century after its apparent demise (although it was not banned in all countries, with the UK and Canada still allowing it to be sold long after other countries had banned it), absinth is back in force, with a plethora of products available across Europe. Some of these play on the name and reputation of the drink without necessarily reproducing the production techniques - in other words, they are essentially anis drinks rebranded as absinth - but there are many others which try to offer modern drinkers the same drinking experience as their predecessors by including thujone among the ingredients, although in far smaller (and safer) concentrations than those found in the 19th century.
Where these products are sold often depends on whether thujone is approved for use as an ingredient or not. For example, absinth is banned in the US because thujone is considered an unsafe drug there (even though other herbs containing thujone, such as thyme and rosemary are permitted). The EU does allow the drink to be sold, and has set limits for the thujone content in food and drink products: 0.5 ppm (mg/kg) in foods and beverages, 10 ppm (mg/l) in alcoholic drinks above 25 per cent alcohol, 5 ppm in alcoholic drinks less than 25 per cent alcohol, and 35 ppm in bitters such as absinth.
A century ago, thujone levels in absinth could have been as high as 260 ppm, according to some historians, although 60ppm - nearly twice the maximum permitted level today - was a more likely average.
But are today's strict limits being adhered to? BfR, a German risk assessment organisation, recently carried out an analysis of 20 absinth brands on sale in Germany to determine whether drinkers were still at risk. The results showed that most of the spirits examined contain less than 10 mg/l thujone and therefore complied with the statutory provisions. However, three brands were found to have thujone levels in excess of the statutory maximum limit of 35 mg/l, with one containing as much as 44.9 mg/l thujone.
BfR said it has informed the Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety and asked for action to be taken against the companies concerned.
With the majority of the absinth drinks assessed containing thujone levels well below the maximum permitted limit, BfR stressed that there was little risk of consumers taking in damaging amounts of the ingredient. However, there is still a health risk associated with the product, BfR said, because of the high alcohol content of many of the bitter spirits. BfR advised consumers not to drink excessive amounts of the product over a long period (more than one glass a day).
For more information about the BfR's assessment, contact the organisation via its website.