Issued By North Yorkshire County Council

SERIOUS HEALTH WARNING WITH COUNTERFEIT WHISKY

NORTH YORKSHIRE County Council Trading Standards service is warning the public to be on the look out for counterfeit and dangerous Johnnie Walker Black Label Whisky following discoveries by trading standards officers in the London Borough of Hackney. 

Both the packaging and contents are counterfeit and several of the bottles have been found to contain harmful levels of methanol which can cause severe abdominal pain, dizziness, blurred vision and in severe cases, blindness, breathing difficulties and comas.  Symptons of methanol poisoning can be delayed for several hours so anyone who may have drunk the whisky may not be immediately aware of the damage it will do. 

The counterfeit product can easily be distinguished from the genuine Johnnie Walker Black Label Scotch Whisky in the following ways:-

• All counterfeit bottles have a Spanish language rear label and a fake lot code “LO4P24878342” printed on the rear of the centre label.

• The word “distillers” on the neck label is incorrectly spelt as “distilleries”.

• The counterfeit bottles have no “E mark” on the base between “700ml and 73mm”.

Many off licences in North Yorkshire have already been alerted to this problem but previous experience of counterfeit spirit drinks has shown that they are usually sold on the “black market” either by individuals or less well known outlets.

Assistance in identifying the counterfeit products can be obtained from the website www.food.gov.uk or from contacting local trading standards services.   Anyone finding a counterfeit bottle of this whisky should immediately contact the trading standards service on 01609 780780.

CONTACT: Rob Blacklock on 01609 766417.

NOTE TO EDITORS:

A photograph of the genuine/counterfeit product can be downloaded from the Foods Standards Agency website www.food.gov.uk.  North Yorkshire Trading Standards do not have any examples to photograph.