Issued: 12 November 2003
Illegal Vodka Warning Issued
The Food Standards Agency is renewing health warnings about counterfeit vodka contaminated with methanol after more illegal spirits were found on sale.
Tests last month on counterfeit bottles of Kirov Vodka, seized by Customs and Excise from an off-licence in Sidcup, Kent, showed they contained unacceptably high levels of methanol.
Anyone who has a bottle of this vodka should not drink it and should contact Angus Council environmental and consumer protection department or the police.
The effects of methanol poisoning include abdominal pain, drowsiness and dizziness, blurred vision blindness and breathing difficulties, leading to coma.
Symptoms can be delayed for several hours and anyone who thinks they may have drunk one of these products should seek immediate medical advice.
The counterfeit bottles come in 70cl and 35cl sizes. Like the genuine ones, the bottles are clear, have a red screw top and have a white label bearing the name Kirov vodka in red.
However the counterfeit bottles can be distinguished from genuine ones:
- Genuine bottles have a red screw top with a double-headed eagle printed in gold and black on the top and Kirov printed on the side in three places. The lids of the counterfeits are plain red.
- Genuine bottles have a lot code marked in black ink on the neck of the bottles. The counterfeits seized did not have any lot code marking.