Food alert - counterfeit vodka
The Council would like
to warn residents of counterfeit 70cl bottles of Spar brand
‘Imperial vodka’ which have been discovered to contain excessive
levels of Methanol. The levels of Methanol found in the vodka
could potentially cause a health risk.
The likely distribution of the product is not
yet known but the report has been on sale in an independent
non-Spar retail outlet and the Council will publish further
information on its website when it becomes available. Bottles
have so far been found in Northumberland and north London.
Spar brand Imperial vodka sold in Spar (UK) Ltd stores is not
affected.
The counterfeit bottles can be identified by
the label, which is a copy of an old pre-2007 version of Spar 70cl
Vodka with an incorrect Duty stamp which does not fluoresce under
UV light. The body text is blurred in some places, especially
around the back label text, and images are slightly blurred.
The word Spar only appears on the back label in very small
print.
The glass bottle is ‘Quinn Glass’, identified
by the code QI:1445c and has a smudged inkjet code reading which
looks like 102234 04/08/02. Legitimate bottles are ‘Rockware’
glass bottles containing the following information ‘700ml66mm’
followed by two symbols and then the numbers 8809. The
attached photographs show the correct identification of the bottles
compared to the counterfeit ones.
Broxbourne Council is contacting all possible
outlets advising them of the alert and carrying out spot checks to
see if the product is on sale.
Further information on food alerts affecting
the local area is available in the Environmental Health section. Residents
who have purchased counterfeit bottles of the vodka can report this
to the Council by telephoning 01992 785511 or e-mailing
envhealth@broxbourne.gov.uk.