USA: Budweiser states beer wasn’t contaminated at the plant

Police still posses not many answers concerning the case of the man who became violently ill after consuming a contaminated beer on August 21.It seams they can dismiss any notion of a factory malfunction at Anheuser-Busch, which produced the Budweiser originally in the bottles Michael Darigan found, the South Independent reported on September1.The beer manufacturer strongly disputed that the beer, found to contain a caustic material similar to lye, could have been tainted at one of its plants,

"The quality of our products is our top priority, and we take seriously any claim regarding product quality," said Mike Harding, vice president of operations for Anheuser-Busch. "We are fully cooperating with the authorities in their investigation. After learning of this incident, we investigated immediately. The two remaining bottles in the six-pack came from two different breweries. The bottles left our breweries nearly two years ago, about one month apart. There were no irregularities during the beer production for the bottle in question. Therefore, we do not believe the contents of the bottle came from our brewery."

Sgt. Thomas Owens said police have not ruled out any possibilities at this point. He stated that officials plan to search the South Shore Management Area off Moonstone Beach Road, where Darigan told police he found the beer during a jog last month.

Darigan, 53, of 11 Black Walnut Drive, Coventry, remains at South County Hospital, where he has been since August 21. He continues to improve, with his condition upgraded to serious as of press time. Asked if police would search the Darigan summer house in Matunuck as part of the investigation, Owens did not rule it out."That is always a possibility," Owens said yesterday morning. "I can't comment further on the status of the investigation, but we can't rule anything at this point. The investigation is still wide open, and we are investigating all possible angles."

Owens said police will focus on searching the area known as Field 5 of the South Shore Management Area, which is overseen by the state Department of Environmental Management's Division of Fish and Wildlife. Michael Lapisky, the division's acting chief, said Field 5 connects with Field 4, which runs off Moonstone Beach Road.

Test results from the state Department of Health indicated that the bottle Darigan drank from contained a caustic material similar to lye, according to Owens. Lye is a solution of potassium hydroxide or sodium hydroxide used in powerful soaps, such as commercial drain and oven cleaners.

According to the initial police report, Darigan told his wife, Ivy, he thought the beer had been planted in the woods by "disgruntled hunters who were trying to exact revenge on Department of Environmental Management police."

Lapisky said his office has received few complaints in the area. He added that the goose-hunting season doesn't kick off until today, and dove hunting begins later in the month."At the start of the season, we may get a couple of calls regarding gunfire," Lapisky said. "But there hasn't been anything of this nature before."

One issue that has arisen in the past is loitering in the area of Field 6 near Green Hill Beach. Lapisky said neighbors have complained about underage drinking and trash dumping in that area. He said police are aware of the complaints and often check the area.

Owens said police hope there may be witnesses or clues in the area of Field 5 that will yield more information. He did not think Darigan was an intended victim."We have no evidence that points to him being a specific target," Owens said Tuesday. "Right now it appears he was an unintended victim."

Police detectives first spoke with Darigan Thursday. Because he had been placed in a voluntary coma shortly after his arrival at the hospital, police had to wait for his condition to improve before talking with him."He confirmed a lot of the information we had been given already," Owens said.

According to Ivy Darigan, her husband got sick immediately after sipping the beer. Ivy Darigan said her husband found the six-pack of beer one month earlier and previously had consumed four of the beers.

In the embarrassment upon Darigan's arrival at South County Hospital, much of the bottle's contents was poured down a sink. It was later siphoned into a container, which was sent to the Department of Health. There it was found out the bottle contained lye.

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