Does Kefir (кефир) cause road accidents?
According to a report in the Moscow Times newspaper, Russia’s chief health inspector says that automobile drivers should not be allowed to drink yogurt prior to driving.
It was as if one could hear Russian traffic officers laughing in precinct stations across the country over Inspector Gennady Onishchenko’s idea that yogurt could impair drivers and police officials hastened to declare that while there are serious accidents on the roads each day, none of them have been identified as being caused by the consumption of yogurt.
For Western readers we should explain that a soft yogurt drink called “Kefir” is a slightly fermented yogurt drink, a traditional use of yogurt in Eastern Europe and parts of Asia.
New Russian laws on retail alcohol sales would have required dairies to license and tax Kefir as an alcoholic product and prohibited sales to anyone under 18. The idea was abandoned after Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev ordered Kefir removed from the list of alcoholic products.
Even Wikipedia mentioned not one concern about the dangers of Kefir and driving. According to Wiki: As it contains yeasts, kefir can be used to make a sourdough bread. It is also useful as a buttermilk substitute in baking. Kefir is one of the main ingredients in cold borscht. Other variations of kefir soups and foods prepared with kefir are popular across the former Soviet Union and Poland.
Heck even little kids drink the stuff. But then, you wouldn’t allow them to drive anyway.
Kefir for kids.
