Greek tax authorities have issued an urgent recall for a batch of Strawbar Origin strawberry spirit after laboratory tests detected illegal levels of toxic methanol.
The Independent Authority for Public Revenue, the Greek state agency known as AADE, warned consumers who have bought the affected bottles not to drink them. Official testing by the General Chemical State Laboratory, which oversees chemical and beverage safety in Greece, classified the batch as non-compliant and unsafe during routine surveillance inspections.
According to the tax agency, the safety alert applies exclusively to batch number 003 of Strawbar Origin, a strawberry distillate with an alcoholic strength of 40 percent by volume sold in 50-centilitre (500-millilitre) glass bottles. AADE released a photograph of the bottle to help members of the public identify the product on store shelves or in their homes.
Laboratory testing and inspection findings
The issue came to light following targeted sampling carried out by the Special Economic Audits Unit of Macedonia, a specialised inspection branch operating under the tax authority's General Directorate of Financial Transaction Audits. Inspectors sent the collected bottle samples to the Chemical Service of Central Macedonia, an operational division of the General Chemical State Laboratory.
Laboratory analysis established that the concentration of methanol in the liquid exceeded the legal maximum limit allowed for fruit distillates. Because the chemical threshold was breached, official chemists certified the product as hazardous, triggering immediate regulatory action.
Official records released by the revenue authority state that the spirit was produced by the ENTEKA distillery, owned by Ioannis N. Kokkaliaris and based in Nea Nikopoli, near Kozani. The beverage is distributed commercially by the single-member public limited company Life Science Lab College S.A.
Distillation safety and market withdrawal
Fruit spirits, often called eau-de-vie, are clear brandies made by fermenting and distilling whole fruits such as strawberries. During the fermentation of fruits that are rich in pectin, natural enzymes produce small amounts of pectin-derived methanol. Distillers must carefully separate the volatile heads and tails of the run from the drinkable heart during distillation to keep methanol well below regulatory safety limits.
The Greek authorities warned that methanol poses severe threats to human health. When ingested, even small amounts of methanol break down into toxic compounds that can trigger metabolic acidosis, severe nerve damage, irreversible blindness, and fatal organ failure.
The distributor has already started withdrawing every bottle from batch 003 across the Greek market in cooperation with the General Chemical State Laboratory. The state revenue authority confirmed that market inspections are ongoing to ensure no stock remains in circulation.
The Athens-Macedonian News Agency reported that the recall applies strictly to batch number 003 and does not extend to other production runs under the Strawbar Origin brand name.
