Abstract: Light alcoholic beverages, such as beer, wine, and cider, produced by fermentation and subject to biological instability on storage due primarily to wild yeasts, particularly Saccharomyces diastaticus types, are preserved by the addition of EDTA to the fermented product prior to packaging. The EDTA additive includes ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid and the water soluble sodium, potassium, and calcium salts thereof, for example the disodium calcium salt. The amount of the EDTA preservative added is correlated with the ascertained wild yeast cell population of the untreated beverage.