If I eat a food made with wine, will it show up on a Breathalyzer test?
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Dear Dr. Vinny,
If you eat a food made with alcohol, like a red wine sauce, would it affect your blood-alcohol content (BAC) reading on a Breathalyzer?
—Tracey, Tamworth, England
Dear Tracey,
That would vary widely, depending mostly on how much alcohol remains in the food after cooking and how much of the food you ate. If you cook with alcohol, much of the alcohol will “burn off,” but some will remain. How much is left will depend on the preparation method, how long it’s cooked, how much heat it was exposed to and what kind of vessel it was cooked in—something simmered in a shallow pan for hours will retain less alcohol than a splash of wine to finish a dish. The USDA has actually issued a chart indicating how much alcohol is retained in various food preparations.
It also depends on how soon after you’ve had all that red wine sauce that you are asked to use a Breathalyzer. If you have some red wine sauce and blow into a Breathalyzer right away, the alcohol in your mouth can affect the reading. But after 20 minutes or so, that should dissipate, and the Breathalyzer should be measuring your deep lung alcohol (which is why officers are instructed not to administer a test for at least 15 minutes after someone has consumed a drink). Unless you’ve consumed copious amounts of red wine sauce (and nothing else), it’s doubtful it would influence a BAC reading.
—Dr. Vinny
