society
Entered 2024.04.27 16:04 Modified 2024.04.27 16:49
‘Sentia’ developed in the UK
Use plant ingredients instead of alcoholUnlike foreign responses to “natural alcohol welfare”
Concerns about blind spots and drunk driving on domestic flights
Food and Drug Safety Administration “Registered as prohibited from entering the country”
A YouTuber from abroad explains that he got drunk 10 minutes after drinking Centia’s alcohol. /Photo = Still from YouTube’s ‘Evening Standard’ “It has a strong sense of herbal medicine. There’s no alcohol, so it’s easy to smell, but it also feels like eating deer antlers…”
A Korean YouTuber who deals in alcohol said this while tasting ‘Sentia’, a liquor that does not contain alcohol. YouTubers who tried Scentia showed different reactions. Some people said, “I feel foggy,” and “I have a strange feeling,” while others said, “I don’t feel particularly drunk.” Sentia is a drink developed in the UK that does not contain alcohol, but is known to be intoxicating when consumed. As news of its development and sales began to spread in Korea early this month, the attention of drinkers was drawn to ‘Sentia’, an alternative alcohol-free spirit. /Photo = Provided by the Ministry of Food Safety and Drugs According to foreign media, British spirits company ‘Scentia Spirit’ recently started selling its Scentia product. Scentia is a type of ‘alternative alcohol’ developed in 2021 by David Nutt, professor of neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London, UK.
The principle of activating ‘GABA’ receptors in the central nervous system was applied by combining different plant ingredients instead of alcohol. GABA is one of the brain cells that is stimulated when you are drunk. Although it does not contain alcohol, the brain reacts ‘as if you had been drinking alcohol.’ Although the specific mixing ratio is unknown, the ingredient list indicates that it contains various plant ingredients and herbal medicine. It contains 12 ingredients, including magnolia, orange peel, ginseng, rosemary, Nigerian ginger, and mugwort. There are also herbal remedies such as mulberry, licorice, hawthorn, and jingyo.
For drinkers, the biggest advantage of this drink is that there is no hangover. According to Professor Nutt’s explanation to foreign media, drinking Scentia does not cause hangovers such as headaches, nausea, or dizziness. He then explained that the duration of the feeling of intoxication when drinking a glass of wine with Scentia is about 45 minutes, and that the intoxication disappears within an hour. The price is 29.5 pounds (about 50,000 won) for 500 ml and 16 pounds (about 27,000 won) for 200 ml (From left) Sentia and Senti’s sales page promotes with phrases like alcohol-free and gluten free in line with health trends. /Photo=Cipio Amazon When looking at reviews on global e-commerce websites such as Amazon, there were many opinions from abroad that it was a ‘new idea’. It is evaluated that even people who have difficulty drinking alcohol due to health reasons can enjoy it. The sales page also promoted the product with phrases such as ‘gluten-free, alcohol-free, caffeine-free’, ‘vegan’, and ‘low calorie’. A British person who bought Scentia through Amazon said in a review, “It’s an effective and enjoyable way to reduce alcohol intake. In the past, I drank wine every day, but now I only need a glass of Scentia,” and he calls this drink ‘daily.’ It was explained in comparison with the ‘joy of’.
However, domestic reactions were quite different. A debate arose over the dangers of ‘drinking without alcohol’. This is because there are concerns that the product could be misused in Korea, where drink driving is broken down based on blood alcohol concentration. In fact, if you take a breath test after drinking Scentia, your blood alcohol content will be 0%. The National Police Agency also said, “If it is not recognized as a drug, it cannot be punished because there are no separate punishment provisions.”
Accordingly, on the 15th, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety designated the alcoholic beverage as ‘dangerous food purchased directly from abroad.’ If you search for the product on the Food and Drug Safety Administration’s direct overseas food purchase website, ‘Orbaro’, you will be informed that it has been designated as a dangerous food because it contains ingredients such as black pepper. This is in accordance with the provision that foreign food and drink products containing herbal medicine are prohibited from being imported into the country. Cucurbita, the bark of the cucurbit tree, is a medicinal herb that is beneficial for the digestive system, but if misused, it can cause stress on the kidneys. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety had previously blocked the import of 21 foreign food and drink products containing cucurbits into the country, and this month, as controversy arose, it also designated Scentia.
An official from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said, “If it is designated as food for direct purchase overseas, you cannot buy it by entering your Korean address on a direct purchase site. When the product is is imported from the Korea Customs Service, an automatic product search will be conducted and automatic return and disposal measures will be taken.” He added, “The structure makes it impossible to buy directly. “He explained.
The Korea Customs Service also explained, “The alcohol brought by passengers will also be blocked by the passenger’s customs clearance department.”
Kim Young-ri, Hankyung.com reporter smartkim@hankyung.com
#drink #existed #world.. #drink #alcohol #popular
