The story of the alcoholic milk drink in Israel

Dr Shoshana Weiss
The Israel Society for the Prevention of Alcoholism

In the middle of July 2002 the Israel Society for the Prevention of Alcoholism (ISPA) brought Xtramood, a milk beverage with a 2 per cent alcohol content, the product of Tara Dairy, to the attention of the Health Minister, and demanded that it be taken off the market. Xtramood was launched by the Dairy in the beginning of July 2002 as "the first alcoholic milk beverage in the world, produced by a dairy". The Dairy invested one million USD in its development and expected sales of about 15 million USD in three years.

In the middle of August 2002 the Ministry of Health ordered Xtramood's removal from supermarket, grocery store, kiosk, and pharmacy shelves, and a halt to its production.

ISPA's volunteers noticed in July 2002 that the alcoholic milk drink, which came in orange, coconut and chocolate flavours, had proved popular among children and adolescents, although the Dairy claimed it was aimed at young people over the age of 18 years. However, the recommendation to use it only over the age of 18 was written in very small print, and the fact that it contained 2 per cent alcohol was written in English and not in Hebrew.

ISPA was concerned that:

• Pregnant women would use the beverage and their babies suffer from alcohol-related birth defects;

• The beverage would get children used to drinking alcohol daily, wanting to increase the quantity, and using more powerful alcoholic drinks as they grew up;

• Small children would be seriously affected - and indeed a young child drank a large amount of Xtramood and slept for 24 hours straight after drinking the beverage;

• Xtramood was placed in stores' dairy sections next to the regular milk beverages, chocolate milk, and yogurts, on lower shelves that are accessible to children;

• The idea of mixing a psychoactive drug that damages the body and reduces the content of calcium with milk – a healthful and essential beverage with a beneficial image, particularly for children and adolescents, who need it for growing and strengthening their bones, would easily penetrate the market.

The Ministry of Health used the following reasons to halt Xtramood's production. It said that the Dairy violated the law by not clearly announcing the alcoholic content on the bottle, by not using a cap children cannot open, and by locating it with other milk beverages instead of putting it in high shelves that children cannot reach.

It is important to note that a loophole in the Israeli law allows supermarkets and grocery stores to sell alcoholic beverages to minors. The law prohibits only the sale of alcohol to minors in pubs, clubs, and restaurants, but the enforcement of the existing law is rare. In the past there was not a majority in the Israeli parliament for blocking the loophole as proposed by ISPA so in July 2002 the organisation wrote to the Health Minister and asked him, in the light of the launching of Xtramod and the invasion of Israel by imported "light" alcoholic drinks - reduced-alcohol (6 per cent or over alcohol content) fruit-flavoured vodka, gin and rum drinks - to intervene in order to change the law so that it forbids the sale of alcohol to minors everywhere.

It is also important to point out that ISPA still thinks that the Dairy hopes Xtramood will be able to return to retailers' shelves and again be popular among young people in order to avoid a significant loss. A great deal of money was invested in the product's development and its advertising on television. ISPA still believes that the Dairy intends to enlarge the warning label that it is aimed at youngsters over 18 years of age, this time written in Hebrew, that it contains 2 per cent alcohol, put it in refrigerators near the shelves of alcoholic drinks and put shrink wrap on the caps. In this case the Ministry of Health will probably approve this product, but ISPA will demand the use of childproof caps as on medications, because shrink wrapping poses no barrier to children.