Agency warns against drinking contaminated spirits

Friday 7 March 2003

Ref: R631 - 41

The Food Standards Agency has issued a new health warning about drinking counterfeit Johnnie Walker Black Label Scotch Whisky. More bottles contaminated with unacceptable levels of methanol have been found this week.

The new contaminated fake bottles of Johnnie Walker were discovered in an operation by Customs and Excise and police at a suspected counterfeit spirits bottling plant in Berkshire this week.

These fakes have been subtly changed from ones previously found, presumably to make them appear more like the genuine article. Previously they had a fake neck label with the word 'distillers' wrongly spelt as 'distilleries'. The fake neck label has now been removed.

David Statham, the Agency's Director of Enforcement and Food Standards, said: 'Tests carried out on the counterfeit whisky show that it has been contaminated with methanol.

'At the levels detected, consumers would be at risk of harmful effects including severe stomach pain and blindness.

'The fake whisky should be avoided and anyone who thinks they may have drunk some within the last 24 hours should contact their doctor. We strongly advise people to check that they have the genuine article, rather than this latest version of fake Johnnie Walker.'

Methanol should not be present at the levels found in the fake Johnnie Walker whisky and could cause serious harm to anyone drinking it. The effects of methanol poisoning include severe abdominal pain, drowsiness, dizziness and blurred vision leading to blindness.

At higher levels it can also lead to breathing difficulties and coma.

The Agency is also advising that counterfeit bottles of Highland Pride Whisky may be on sale in the UK after rolls of fake labels for this drink were also found on the premises this week along with the fake Johnnie Walker.

As a precaution, anyone who thinks that they may have one of these fake bottles is advised not to drink the liquor as it has not been possible to safety test it.

If you have a bottle you should take it to your local authority for investigation. Other products found at the same time did not test positive for unacceptable levels of methanol. Further tests are being considered, but at present it appears that they are simply poor quality watered down fakes.

The Agency will issue any further advice as appropriate.

A Food Hazard Warning has now been issued to all Local Authorities across the UK asking them to ensure that contaminated products are not on sale in their area. If found, the bottles will be removed from sale and destroyed.

Notes to editors

1) In November 2002, the Agency first issued a warning against drinking counterfeit Johnnie Walker after 50 similar fake bottles were found in Hackney, London.

2) Any counterfeit bottles can be distinguished from genuine ones by a number of subtle differences:

Johnnie Walker Black Label

• The fake bottles have writing in Spanish on the rear label, unlike the genuine article.
• A fake lot code 'L04P24878342' is also printed on the rear of the front centre label.
• The fake bottles do not have a neck label, unlike the genuine article (NB: the previously found contaminated fake did have a neck label, but a fake one with 'distillers' spelt incorrectly as distilleries).
• The counterfeit bottles have no 'E mark' on their base between '700ml and 73mm'.

Highland Pride Finest Scotch Whisky

• The front label of the genuine bottle is marked '1 litre' and '43% vol.', whereas the counterfeit reads '1 L' and '40% vol'.
• The genuine bottle has small numbers on just the right hand side of the label, whereas the counterfeit has small numbers on both sides.
• The genuine bottle states: 'BOTTLED IN SCOTLAND', whereas the counterfeit states 'PRODUCED AND BOTTLED IN SCOTLAND'.
• The genuine bottle has 'HIGHLAND PRIDE' written on one line on the back label, whereas the counterfeit has it written on two lines.
• The genuine bottle does not have a line between 'Highland Pride' and 'Finest Scotch Whisky'; the counterfeit version does.
• The genuine one's bar code is 5011311023645; the fake bar code is 5011311221171.
• The genuine label has '1 LITRE 43' written on the bottom right-hand side, whereas the counterfeit states '1L' on the left hand side and '40% vol.' on the right.
• The fake version has a recycle sign whereas the genuine one does not.
• The fake labels are self-adhesive, the genuine ones are not.

Details, along with pictures of the counterfeits, can be found on the Agency website.