Ethyl Carbamate in Brazilian Cachaça

Since suspicions were raised in the 1940s about the toxicity risks of ethyl carbamate (EC) ingested through fermented foods, tens of thousands of papers have been published, including research on precursor chemicals, formation mechanisms, analytical methods, toxicity (in vitro and in guinea pigs), levels of occurrence and prevention procedures. The IARC (2010) classified EC as category 2A (probably toxic) for the doses applied in the tests on guinea pigs, but found no evidence of carcinogenicity risks to humans from the ingestion of alcoholic beverages. The Codex Alimentarius (2020) recommends the monitoring of EC but does not propose the adoption of tolerance limits for its occurrence in fermented foods and beverages. In this work, based on the analysis of more than 5000 alembic cachaças, it was found that, consistently, over 90% of the samples kept the EC content below 400 μg EC/L. As alembic cachaças account for more than 95% of the brands of cachaça produced in Brazil, the authors propose that the limit of the current legislation, which is 210 μg EC/L, be increased to 400 μg EC/L.