Study confirms illicit alcohol products are being sold in Australia alongside licit alcohol products by licensed retailers, contravening food safety laws.
Illicit Alcohol in Off-Licence Retailers: A Preliminary Observational Study
June 2026
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M. Kowalski, M. Livingston, J. Grigg, et al., “Illicit Alcohol in Victorian Off-Licence Retailers: A Preliminary Observational Study,” Drug and Alcohol Review45, no. 4 (2026): e70167, https://doi.org/10.1111/dar.70167
Illicit alcohol sales account for 90 per cent of the alcohol-related lost tax revenue in Australia (unrecorded alcohol). However, a paucity of research on this segment of the alcohol market means it is unclear if illicit alcohol is widely available in Australia and whether it is safe for human consumption.
To establish immediate availability, we visited four licensed alcohol retailers in high socio-economic areas of Melbourne, Victoria in mid-2025 as part of this preliminary investigation. We found and purchased three suspected illicit alcohol products and one control product and submitted all four products for chemical testing.
Three out of the four retailers we visited stocked suspected illicit alcohol products. These products were the cheapest products available in their category. Two of the products we tested contained plasticizers and methanol at levels that far exceed food safety standards.
This study confirms illicit alcohol products are in circulation in Australia and stocked alongside licit alcohol products by licensed retailers, in contravention of food safety, liquor and tax regulations. Regulations such as those in place in the European Union that routinise sampling and testing of food products could potentially reduce the likelihood of products such as these being stocked in stores. However, it is unclear how widel spread this practice is. There is an urgent need for trans-disciplinary research into the prevalence, nature and magnitude of illicit alcohol in Australia, to inform and justify a proactive policy approach that could curtail this market.
Click here to read the full article and here to read the June Connections piece showing how collecting sales data can help address the illicit alcohol trade
