Hair Follicle Test And Alcohol Free Beer.

[newpotato]

Would the 0.5% alcohol present in most alcohol free beers show up in a hair follicle test for alcohol use???

[Buenchico]

No, or at least not in any way that could be meaningful (unless, of course, extremely large quantities of low alcohol beer were to be consumed)

The test doesn't directly[i identify the presence of alcohol in the body. It simply looks for markers that indicate that ethanol has been present. Given that ethanol can be taken into the body without consuming alcoholic drinks anyway, there would be no way of knowing whether the presence of tiny amounts of the markers had come about through the consumption of low-alcohol drinks or through any other means.

Indeed, the test is generally only taken to be meaningful when looking for [i]regular] consumption of more than 7 units of alcohol per day (approx 3 pints of standard strength bitter or perhaps 2 pints of premium strength lager) and even then only valid when supported by additional evidence:
http://www.familylawweek.co.uk/site.aspx?i=ed118874