The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA), Silver Spring, MD, presented the second of three kombucha webinars to inform the growing industry about current issues and provide compliance strategies.
 
The second webinar, titled “Alcohol Analysis,” focused on methods for testing the alcohol content of kombucha products. To avoid liability and ensure quality, all kombucha producers should take appropriate steps, including testing of alcohol content, to determine if the alcohol content of their product ever reaches or exceeds 0.5% alcohol by volume at any time during production, bottling or after bottling and before it is consumed. When kombucha contains 0.5% alcohol or more by volume at any time, the product comes under the jurisdiction of regulations of the U.S. Treasury’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB).
 
The webinar featured presentations from James Neal-Kababick, the founder and director of Flora Research Laboratories, LLC, a Grants Pass, OR-based contract testing and research laboratory; and Samuel J. LaBonia, president of Cornerstone Laboratories, LLC, headquartered in Memphis, TN. 
 
Mr. Neal-Kababick, who has been working with kombucha for more than two decades, provided an overview of commonly used testing methods and how to validate other testing methods.
 
“There are several methods that can be used for quality control, but you must be certain that they are fit for purpose to meet the TTB requirements,” he said. “When TTB pulls a sample for testing, they will likely utilize the distillation and densitometer method and using this method is the best way to ensure compatible data, if done by a qualified expert.”
 
According to TTB, producers may use any method that has been formally validated (e.g., that underwent a multi-laboratory performance evaluation) or that is otherwise scientifically valid for purposes of determining the alcohol content of beverages, including beverages that contain less than 0.5% alcohol by volume. A scientifically valid method is, among other things, accurate, precise, and specific for its intended purpose, and it has results that are consistently reliable, accurate, and reproducible.
 
Cornerstone Laboratories has been testing kombucha for more than three years and has worked with several brewers and companies in today’s market. Mr. LaBonia highlighted the unique complexities that alcohol testing of kombucha presents.
 
“This is a very unique beverage because it is often still alive when it gets to the shelf,” Mr. LaBonia said. “This provides health benefits and lends to its growing popularity, but can make it tricky to analyze. It isn’t as simple as testing beer, wine or spirits.”
 
Mr. Neal-Kababick and Mr. LaBonia stressed that testing is a necessary step for alcohol analysis and quality control that can present a significant burden for individual kombucha companies. However, they noted that the burden of developing and validating testing methods can be mitigated through industry-wide collaboration.
 
AHPA’s third kombucha webinar will focus on tax, labeling and legislation and will be presented on Nov. 4, 2015. Recordings of AHPA’s first two kombucha webinars are also available to reporters by request. AHPA’s kombucha webinar series has been made possible through the generous support of KeVita, Inc.