Do alcoholic ingredients in food prohibit distribution to minors?
<p>I just received a supply of Member's Mark Beer Cheese from Saint Mary's Foodbank in Phoenix, Arizona USA, and I am only 20 years of age.  The ingredient label confirms that Beer Cheese contains beer.</p>

<p>Is it legal to distribute foods that contain alcohol to people under the legal drinking age?</p>

<p>Arizona law operates in terms of <a href="http://www.azliquor.gov/LiquorLaws/ViewTitle.cfm?TitleID=1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">"spirituous liquor"</a>, which is defined as containing more than 0.5% alcohol by volume. You'd have to send the cheese to a lab to determine the actual alcohol content, but it is likely that the product has less than the threshold amount of alcohol. It is not clear why vanilla extract is not classified as a spirituous liquor, since it satisfies the definition (as a mixture of alcohol with another substance, and it is indeed capable of inducing intoxication).</p>

<p>Restrictions on the sale, consumption, and possession of alcoholic beverages do not apply to cheese because cheese is not a beverage.</p>

united-states minor alcohol food arizona