Could Christmas food put you over the drink drive limit?

The drink driving limit is 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath, in Scotland this limit is 22 micrograms – so just one drink could get you over the limit.

There is no hard and fast rule on how much alcohol you can consume and legally drive – the best rule of thumb is to not drink at all if you are going to drive.

Driving or attempting to drive while above the legal limit or unfit through drink could land you six months in prison, an unlimited fine and a driving ban.

However, alcohol can be found in a lot of boozy food, from brandy butter to liqueur chocolates and the gravy you pour all over your Christmas dinner.

Can you drive after eating boozy treats this Christmas? 

There are lots of foods out there that contain alcohol, usually it is only a small amount and often it gets cooked so a lot of the alcoholic content burns away.

If they were to get you over the limit you would have to really over-indulge… But after all, it is Christmas so this is a possibility.

Research by All Car Leasing has found that the following foods contain approximately 3.5 units of alcohol but you’ll really need to splurge to hit that unit, as long as you aren’t drinking too:

• 2 tiramisus
• 5.5 servings of Christmas cake
• 1 sherry trifle
• 4 servings of peppercorn sauce
• 9 portions of chicken marsala
• 58 packets of olives
• 850 alcohol-filled chocolates

For a Christmas cake soaked in brandy, just one and a half ‘standard servings’ would be equal to one unit of alcohol. 

A single pint of beer and one and a half servings of Christmas cake could be enough to set you over the limit.

Whilst one serving of a cherry trifle has more than half a unit of alcohol.

The legal drink drive limit cannot be safely converted into units of alcohol as the way your body absorbs it can be different from person to person. 

However, the important thing to notice is – if you are consuming food which contains alcohol and you are planning to drive, then you should not have any alcoholic drinks alongside it.