Hello, I had a desert that was cooked in wine on Saturday evening about 8 pm. One cup of wine was simmered and used in the whole desert, my piece was approximately 1/8 of the total. I ate one small piece when I learned the desert had wine it, and I threw the rest out. I took an EtG test on the following Wednesday, approximately 87 hours later. Is there any chance this could cause a positive test result on the EtG test? Thanks for any help.

Not at that time span. Some of the alcohol may have survived the cooking but very little. If some alcohol survived it would have created EtG in a very minute amount but it would have been eliminated in under 12 hours. Even if you had been tested immediately after eating it is unlikely the EtG would have risen above the level of detection.

You can relax.

A German study, Musshoff 2010 (http://www.springerlink.com/content/pg6761694335q584/), looked into the influence of foods containing small amounts of alcohol and concluded none produced measurable EtG at 24 hours.

Your actions in this instance were very wise. Eating, drinking or inhaling ethanol containing substances (even in small amounts) prior to the test, within 24 hours to be safe, can certainly produce a false positive.

Dr. Bill, thanks so much for taking the time to reply to my question. I really appreciate your help and expertise.