Health warning over dodgy vodka

Bottles of potentially-dangerous counterfeit vodka have been seized by trading standards officers in the Black Country and their contents are now being examined.

The 12 bottles of Glen's Vodka were discovered for sale at a Coseley off-licence. Investigators from Dudley Council swooped after receiving a complaint from someone who bought a bottle, which had a "peculiar taste". The same counterfeit product has been discovered in other parts of the country and found to contain higher than normal levels of methanol.

Now shoppers are being warned to be on their guard because of the risk the dodgy booze could pose to people's health.

Councillor Karen Shakespeare, cabinet member for environment and culture, said: "We would ask anyone who thinks they may have bought a bottle of this counterfeit vodka not to drink it and report it to us as soon as possible."

Trading standards officers are investigating where the bottles came from and are asking people who may have purchased the fake product to call 08454 040506.

Genuine Glen's Vodka (70cl) can be easily distinguished from the fake product as the bottles are marked AGC by the supplier Allied Glass Containers.

Other information has also been embossed in the glass including 70cl 58mm C12173. Any bottle of Glen's Vodka without this marking is counterfeit.

The bottles found in Coseley have SE607 700ml 66mm, 8509 700ml 66mm and 7828 700ml 66mm marked on the glass.

Glen Catrine, the bottling plant for Glen's Vodka, does not use any of these bottles for Glen's Vodka.

The front and back labels on the counterfeit bottles also appear to be self-adhesive as there is no visible glue pattern.

Genuine Glen's Vodka (70cl) labels are applied by a labelling machine using a wet adhesive which produces a distinctive glue pattern on the back of the label resulting in horizontal lines.