Lawsuit claims arsenic levels high in some low-priced California wines

A new consumer lawsuit alleges low-priced wines produced by more than two dozen California wineries — including several prominent names on the North Coast — contain illegal and toxic levels of arsenic.

The wine industry quickly dismissed the allegations in the lawsuit, saying there was no evidence the wines posed a health risk to consumers.

The class-action suit, filed Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, alleges that 28 wineries are violating state law by knowingly producing, marketing and selling wine with elevated levels of arsenic, a naturally occurring chemical element that can be poisonous in high concentrations.

The lawsuit targets 83 wines, primarily low-priced white and blush wines, that bear some of the biggest names in the wine business, including Sutter Home, Beringer, Almaden and Franzia. It includes several wines made by North Coast wine producers Fetzer, Korbel and Don Sebastiani & Sons.

The suit is based on tests conducted by Denver-based BeverageGrades on 1,306 different wines. The tests found 83 had dangerously high levels of arsenic, according to the lawsuit, and those tests were confirmed by two additional labs.

The lawsuit contends the wineries produce bottles 'that contain dangerously high levels of inorganic arsenic, in some cases up to 500 percent or more than what is considered the maximum acceptable safe daily intake limit.'

The Wine Institute, which represents more than 1,000 California wineries, said the allegations were false and misleading.

'Arsenic is prevalent in the natural environment in air, soil and water, and in food,' the institute said in a statement. 'As an agricultural product, wines from throughout the world contain trace amounts of arsenic, as do juices, vegetables, grains and other alcohol beverages. There is no research that shows that the amounts found in wine pose a health risk to consumers.'

Treasury Wine Estates, which produced five wines named in the suit and whose U.S. operations are based in Napa, issued a statement saying it 'remains confident that our wines are not only safe but enjoyable to drink.'

Hopland-based Fetzer, which produced two of the wines, stands behind its products and is compliant with the multiple agencies that regulate wine, said Cindy DeVries, the company's chief operating officer.

The lawsuit contends the wines are unsafe because they exceed standards set for arsenic in drinking water. There is no federal standard for arsenic in wine.

Under rules set by the Environmental Protection Agency, arsenic levels in drinking water cannot exceed 10 parts per billion. The Food and Drug Administration, which regulates the acceptable level of arsenic in U.S. food and drink products, has investigated certain products on a case-by-case basis, such as fruit juices and polished rice.

Arsenic can be toxic in large amounts, increasing the risk of cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular ailments.

The tests showed the arsenic found was 'inorganic,' or not naturally occurring, said the lawsuit's lead attorney, Brian Kabateck. He said it might have been introduced in the vinting process and noted nearly all of the affected wines sell for between $5 and $10 a bottle.

'Out of 1,306 tests, only 83 came back,' he said. 'We know that the vast majority of the wine business is safe. If you're spending $20 on a bottle of wine, you're not going to have concerns, most likely.'

The wine industry is sensitive to any claims that its product is unhealthy. Since the early 1990s, wine sales have benefited from studies that found a positive connection between components in wine and a reduction in heart disease.

It wants to prevent what happened to apple juice manufacturers, who faced new proposed rules on arsenic levels in 2013 as a result of a campaign led by 'The Dr. Oz Show.'

Different international standards have been set for acceptable levels of arsenic in wine.

The International Organization of Vine and Wine, an intergovernmental agency that includes France, Italy, Germany and many other countries, but not the United States, has a guideline for a maximum of 200 parts per billion (0.2 milligrams per liter) arsenic in wine. The legal limits in Germany and Australia are 100 parts per billion.

Previous studies have detected arsenic at much lower levels in wines.

Carl Winter, vice chair of the UC Davis Department of Food Science and Technology, cautioned that any study must consider the lifetime exposure of arsenic levels to assess the appropriate health concerns.

'That's a real key thing,' he said. Winter spoke in general on the subject, while not specifically commenting on the BeverageGrades study, whose specific details were not made readily available.

Winter recently conducted published research on Americans' dietary exposure to arsenic from 2006 to 2008 and found that it was below the level of concern as established by the EPA.

To view a PDF copy of the lawsuit, click here. For a list of wines tested for arsenic, click here.

Editor's note: This story has been revised to note the FDA has investigated but has not issued final regulations on fruit juice and rice.

Staff Writer Glenda Anderson and the Associated Press contributed to this article. You can reach Staff Writer Bill Swindell at 521-5223 or bill.swindell@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @BillSwindell.