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Beer losing its fizz at the worst possible time due to CO2 shortage

Stephen Gadd
June 25th, 2018


This article is more than 6 years old.

Some bars in England are already beginning to feel the pinch, but Denmark is ok for beer for the moment

The popular ‘Green Tuborg’ has been brewed in Fredericia since 2008 (photo: flickr/Håkan Dahlström)

What with the exceptionally good May weather and the World Cup, more beers are going down the hatch than normal for the time of year.

However, this development has not only been positive for the big brewery concerns; there is a shortage of CO2 in many places in Europe and that might lead – horror of horrors – to a shortage of beer.

Lager than life
Denmark’s Roligans can breathe easily for now at least. Carlsberg’s brewery in Fredericia is self-sufficient in CO2 and able to capture more during the brewing process. However, the European crisis has led Carlsberg to step up production, reports DR Nyheder.

READ ALSO: Carlsberg unveils world’s most CO2-neutral bar … probably

“We’ve had 100,000 tons of malt delivered during the weekend and we’ve been working flat out to brew more beer so that more CO2 can be produced in the fermentation tanks,” said Carlsberg’s press officer Kasper Elbjørn.

The Fredericia brewery might end up having to share its precious gas with other breweries in the chain.

Share it out
“To ensure an adequate supply of beer in the long term, we’re at present investigating alternatives. We’re also prepared to share with the other Carlsberg breweries. We hope, of course, that the producers [of CO2] will soon have their production under control,” added Elbjørn.

Pity the Brits, though. A longer-than-usual break in production at plants across Europe has left the UK relying on one big plant producing CO2, reports the Evening Standard.

So maybe they will have to toast the next Harry Kane goal in real ale – with no carbonation added.


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A survey carried out by Megafon for TV2 has found that 71 percent of parents have handed over children to daycare in spite of them being sick.

Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”