Will I be fined for driving after eating a lot of fruit?
Some fruits that are high in sugar or overripe can ferment and produce alcohol after a certain period of time. However, this amount of alcohol is very small and is quickly metabolized by the body.
Recently, a driver from Quang Nam Central General Hospital violated alcohol limits while driving in Quang Binh province, with a breath alcohol level of 0.243 mg/L. According to the hospital's leadership, the driver reported that before the alcohol test, he had a cold and conjunctivitis, so he had taken medicine and drunk fruit smoothies.
Subsequently, information from the Ministry of Public Security's task force revealed that after traffic police conducted a qualitative test and detected a driver violating alcohol limits, they requested a quantitative test. Before the quantitative test, the driver himself stated that he had drunk beer before driving.
Many readers have asked whether eating fruit and then driving a vehicle can result in a penalty for violating alcohol limits.
According to Dr. Dong Quang Trang, Head of the Gastroenterology Unit at Le Van Thinh Hospital (Ho Chi Minh City), in reality, some fruits that are too ripe or left for too long may ferment and contain a small amount of alcohol. However, the body metabolizes this alcohol very quickly, and breath tests using a breathalyzer will not detect any alcohol concentration.
In situations where the driver has eaten dishes like steamed shrimp with beer, their breath may have a slight beer smell, but it's usually very mild.
Doctor Trang asserted that the explanation given by many people that eating fruit or consuming fermented drinks causes traffic police to detect alcohol in their breath is completely incorrect.
"There's no way that eating fruit or taking medicine will result in a positive breathalyzer test. That's just an excuse," said Dr. Trang. Sharing the same view, Dr. Huynh Tan Vu, from the University Medical Center of Ho Chi Minh City, Branch 3, stated that eating fruit is not enough to detect alcohol in one's breath.
In addition, traffic police will conduct a two-step alcohol test: a qualitative test to detect alcohol and a quantitative test to determine the level of violation. The quantitative measurement will accurately determine the alcohol concentration in the breath and the level of violation committed by the driver.
In Vietnam, alcohol ranks fifth among the top 15 health risk factors and causes many serious social consequences such as traffic accidents and domestic violence.
