The owner of a New Zealand cafe mistakenly served dishwashing liquid as mulled wine. Now the owner has been fined for causing emotional harm to two women who he served the dishwashing liquid. Chico's Restaurant Ltd. in the mountain resort of Queenstown on South Island pleaded guilty to a charge of selling food containing extraneous matter — the chemical sodium hydroxide — that caused injury. Prosecutor Sarah McKenzie told Queenstown District Court that the two women were taken to a hospital after drinking the liquid last July. One victim was a customer who ordered a glass of wine from Queenstown's Old Man Rock Cafe, owned by Chico's Restaurant Ltd. She spat out the liquid when she experienced a burning sensation on her lips and mouth. A cafe worker offered to test the drink and suffered a similar reaction, the prosecutor said. Managers at the cafe checked and found that a mulled wine container had been filled with dishwashing detergent.
We get the most exciting news stories... like the can of John West Salmon (caught in Canada, canned in China) that had a NZ souvenir in it. I'm glad we can't compete with the rest of world with natural disasters and consternation over the race of our leaders.
What? That must be some weak dishwashing liquid, most you can smell a mile away. And what ever happened to smelling wine before drinking?
I think it was commercial stuff for the kitchen dishwashers - not aromatic like the household product. And really, after the second glass do you smell the wine to check for it's notes and bouquet. I think not... it's down the hatch, who wants to dance?!
May be the waiter would have thought that the dish washing liquid would be a better choice than the bad quality wine available with him
I am not a big wine drinker. But I know first thing people do having a glass of wine is sniff it. May be they should fall for the basics from now, after they have a lesson