Kombucha Drinks Pulled From Whole Foods' Shelves and On Tap

Whole Foods has removed all raw kombucha products from all of their stores. Although it is well known that kombucha contains trace amounts of alcohol, the products were removed due to concerns with slightly elevated alcohol levels because products containing more than .5% alcohol must be labeled with a warning.

Read some articles on the topic:

• Associated Press: Whole Foods removes kombucha drinks from stores
• BevNET.com: Raw Kombucha Products Pulled from Whole Foods' Shelves
• DailyFinance: Whole Foods Pulls Kombucha Teas, Citing Alcohol Content
• Healthy Notes: Kombucha Tea Pulled
• Feed Me Like You Mean It: Whole Foods Stops Selling Real Kombucha

Although kombucha can reach alcohol levels of 2-something %, producing kombucha with less than .5% alcohol is possible. For example, Katalyst Kombucha produces a raw, unpasteurized product with < .5% alcohol content. (Unfortunately, their products have been removed from Whole Foods' shelves for the time being as well). Here is a short discussion thread, Why does my kombucha have high alcohol content?!

Luckily, this recent action does not affect those who home-brew kombucha. And for those of you who don't brew your own, now is the perfect opportunity to start!

There are still plenty of places to purchase kombucha around Boston, MA. Check out my Google map on where to purchase kombucha around the Boston area.

It will be interesting to see what happens, and hopefully things will turn out alright. Stay tuned for updates!