An Ontario man who says he got sick after drinking Stella Artois beer is taking legal action, asking why its manufacturer didn't warn people until more than a year after the first of six tampered bottles was found.

'We want to understand why a warning wasn't issued earlier if in fact there were instances of a similar problem before July of 2007.'—Lawyer Darcy Merkur

Lawyer Darcy Merkur said he is in the process of serving notice to Labatt Breweries of Canada — which makes Stella Artois in Canada — that his law firm has been retained by the man from Pickering, about 40 kilometres east of Toronto.

Merkur said his client wants to know how an excessive amount of ethanol — a concentrated alcohol solution — was put in the bottles and why the company didn't recall the product until last week.

"We want some answers," said Merkur. "We want to understand why a warning wasn't issued earlier if in fact there were instances of a similar problem before July of 2007."

What is ethanol?
Ethanol is produced when organic material, including wheat, barley and hops, ferments. The fermentation process — which is aided by the addition of yeast — turns sugars in the organic material into alcohol.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency issued an advisory on July 12 warning that tampering was suspected in six 330-millilitre bottles of Stella Artois beer with best-before dates of November and December 2005, and production codes of L32343T and L35243G.

Merkur said the warning was issued after his client was served tainted beer in a tavern in the Durham region, which includes Pickering. The man alleges he threw up twice after drinking the beer. He is expected to make a full recovery.

The CFIA said in its July 12 advisory that the bottles should no longer be for sale in the marketplace as their expiry dates had passed.

An investigation is underway to determine the source of ethanol found in certain bottles of Stella Artois beer.
(CBC)

CFIA officials said the suspected tampering is believed to have affected beer sold at restaurants and bars in Toronto and Kamloops, B.C.

Garfield Balsom, a CFIA spokesman, said the federal agency first learned of the problem on June 25 when a person in Ontario was served a tainted bottle.

Balsom said Labatt Breweries of Canada confirmed that June incident was the fifth case of a tampered bottle being found. The first incident took place in Kamloops in January 2006, he said.
  
"We did not issue a warning on the 25th," Balsom said.

"There was an investigation conducted. There was an extensive review done by Labatts of their distribution centres and their retail outlets at that time, and indications to us was there was no product at the time still available."