Riunite Recalling Tainted Wines : Diethylene Glycol Found in Thousands of Cases in U.S.

The Italian wine company Riunite began recalling several hundred thousand cases of wine Thursday after small traces of diethylene glycol, or DEG, were found, the wine’s American importer, Villa Banfi, said.

Carmel Tintle, the importer’s vice president, said the recall involves about 5% of the Riunite imported annually, including its Lambrusco, Bianco, Rosato and Spumanti wines.

Tintle said it isn’t known where the tainted wine was shipped, but retailers are being alerted. California health authorities said they do not know if any of the tainted wine had been shipped to the state.

DEC is usually found in plastic pipes used in wine making and is not considered harmful to consumers, Tintle said.

Earlier this year, DEG was discovered to have been added to Austrian wine to increase its sweetness, but the DEG in the Riunite products entered through an equipment malfunction at several wineries in Italy, Tintle said.

“There is no health risk to this,” he said, citing a statement he attributed to Mark Cullen, an associate professor at Yale University School of Medicine: “A consumer who drank wine containing this small amount of DEG would not have experienced any adverse health effects.”

Nonetheless, all future exports will be tested for the substance before shipment, Tintle said.

The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms discovered small traces of the chemical--between 7 and 10 parts per million--in wine shipped from several Riunite facilities, Tintle said.

“In Europe, up to 10 parts per million of DEG are allowed in the wine,” Tintle said. “It’s not allowed in the United States.”

The contaminated bottles are marked with the code numbers 1124, 3321 and 813, he said, adding that:

- No. 1124 appears on the front label and bottle cap of 750-milliliter bottles of Lambrusco, Bianco and Rosato.

- No. 3321 is on the label and cap of 1.5-liter bottles of Rosato.

- No. 813 is printed on aluminum covering the corks of 750-milliliter bottles of Riunite Spumanti.

Italy is the biggest source of wine imported to the United States, and Riunite products are the biggest seller among imported wines.