Formaldehyde in Beer??

Daddy had this Xi Hu beer in Hangzhou the other day when we were in Shanghai.

On it, there was this text printed : "free from formaldehyde". Daddy and I were joking about this, and thought it was just a marketting gimmick that this brewery is using to promote itself as more 'superior' than others, although the test of the beer wasn't that superior.

I wonder if people actually use formaldehyde in beer brewing.

Well google has the answer,

"It had been known that some Chinese breweries have habitually added a small amount of formaldehyde to the mash, ostensibly as a clarifying agent. Large export and joint venture brewers have stopped using formaldehyde, but the recent study indicates that the practice remains widespread." taken from this article, and you can read the whole article from that site.

So, watch out beer drinker out there.