(Bloomberg) — Bars and restaurants across Brazil’s biggest state fear they could see as much as a 30% drop in business as a methanol poisoning crisis rocks the alcoholic beverage industry.
The Federation of Hotels, Restaurants, and Bars of the State of São Paulo, known as Fhoresp, estimates that revenue losses within the last week from distilled beverages — which include vodka, whiskey and gin — at some establishments reaching 50%, it said in a Sunday statement. The sudden drop in business activity comes amid a wave of methanol poisoning cases reported across several Brazilian states linked to the consumption of adulterated alcoholic beverages.
“Demand for spirits is much lower than normal, so much so that sales of these products have dropped 70% in our bar,” said Valderi da Silva, one of the owners of Amarelinho das Batidas, a bar in the neighborhood of Itaim Bibi. “Even the demand for beer has declined because there’s almost no public, so overall sales have been affected. When it hits the business, it affects everything.”
At Feirinha Bar in the Vila Olímpia neighborhood, floor manager Victor Bertolazzi noticed slower activity over the past weekend. He said some clients were opting for alternatives to spirits, seeing an increase in the sales of beer.
The decline in business activity was particularly noticeable on weekends as the number of cases grew, according to Enio Miranda, Fhoresp’s director of strategic planning and corporate governance.
The nation’s Health Ministry confirmed 225 reports of suspected poisonings as of Sunday night, out of which 192 are in São Paulo. Within that state, 14 have been confirmed and 178 are under investigation, according to the Health Ministry.
So far, 15 people have died. Two deaths were confirmed in the state of São Paulo and 13 are under investigation.
“Until there’s full clarity on the extent of these crimes, people should refrain from drinking distilled beverages,” Alexandre Padilha, Brazil’s minister of health, said in an interview with CNN Brazil on Friday. “Our recommendation is that people avoid spirits, especially if they’re not absolutely sure about the drink’s origin.”
On Saturday, the federal government started distributing pharmaceutical ethanol — an antidote used to treat methanol poisoning — to states that have formalized requests for replenishment. Padilha also announced Saturday that the government secured 12,000 more vials of pharmaceutical ethanol and 2,500 units of fomepizole to reinforce the nation’s public health system’s stockpile for methanol poisoning cases tied to adulterated alcoholic drinks.
In São Paulo, the state government has been carrying out inspections at bars and liquor stores to seize counterfeit bottles. Since Sept. 29, over 7,000 bottles have been confiscated for investigation, according to a statement. As of Saturday, 11 establishments were provisionally closed by authorities to collect beverage samples and check for suspected methanol contamination.
São Paulo Governor Tarcísio de Freitas last week ordered the cancellation of state registration for establishments proven to have sold methanol-adulterated beverages.
The industry is “united, in contact with a number of leaders and the São Paulo State government, to provide them with information so they can take firm action against the establishments involved,” said Fhoresp’s Miranda.
“It’s worth remembering that establishments, restaurants, bars, and hotels, as well as consumers, are all victims of this counterfeiting process, and the government is responsible for combating it,” he added.
(Updates number of reports starting in the 6th paragraph.)
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