Food Standards Agency - Illicit 'Drop Vodka'

Last updated on 23 November 2011

Illicit 'Drop Vodka'

Food Alert: for Action

Ref 03/2011

The public will wish to be aware that illicit Drop Vodka 70cl has been discovered on sale in the UK.
A number of contraventions have been identified with this product:

• The product does not contain enough alcohol to be called vodka. The Spirit & Drinks Regulations 2008 state that vodka should be no less than 37.5% ABV. Samples of Drop Vodka taken by local authorities have detected levels of 28.6% ABV, which is well below the advertised ABV stated on the bottle.
• There are a number of labelling issues, particularly the lack of manufacturer’s details for traceability purposes.
• There is a food safety concern in that products sampled by local authorities have identified the presence of Propan-2-ol and other substances that can be potentially damaging to health.

To date, the illicit bottles of vodka have been found on sale in England and Wales, specifically in the towns of Scunthorpe, Norwich, Wakefield, Leeds, Salford, Wolverhampton, Nottingham, Milton Keynes, Potters Bar, Aldershot, Colchester and Cardiff.

The levels of Propan-2-ol detected in the Drop Vodka product render the product a health risk. This makes the product unsafe for consumption under Article 14 of Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002.

No food business operator has been identified as the owner of the Drop Vodka brand, therefore distribution information is not available. Local authorities have typically found products on sale in small independent retailers, corner shops, petrol stations etc. If further information on distribution becomes available, local authorities will be advised accordingly.

Identification of the illicit product:

To date, photographs of two different Drop Vodka labels have been received. One proclaims to be bottled in Italy, the other in France. Photographs are attached to this alert.

Drop Vodka, 70cl
Bottled in Italy or France

Main distinctive marks:

• The duty stamp does not fluoresce under UV light
• The duty reference on the illicit bottles A000000000618 belongs to Glen Catrine Bonded Warehouse Ltd. Drop Vodka is not a Glen Catrine product
• The barcode 0123456789 is not a valid bar code
• No spirit manufacturer's lot number on bottle
• No manufacturer's name and address on the label
• Front and rear labels are self-adhesive
• Punt mark on bottles show bottle made by 'Ol glassware'
• The general print quality of the labels is poor

Action to be taken by local authorities:

The product detailed above does not comply with the requirements specified in Article 14 of Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002 due to the lack of adequate labelling to facilitate the products’ traceability and the presence of various substances that are not intended for human consumption.

Local authorities are requested to identify and make contact with relevant retailers in their area to make them aware of this issue. If products are found during the course of their routine inspections, enforcement officers should ensure that they are withdrawn from sale and destroyed, if necessary using powers under the Food Safety Act 1990.

Local authorities should report any finding of Drop Vodka by sending a completed Intelligence Report Form to the FSA's dedicated food fraud mailbox: foodfraud@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk.

Intelligence Report Forms can be downloaded from the Agency's website at the link below.

Messages relating to Drop Vodka have already been circulated via TS Interlink; however, local authorities may wish to consider the use of local publicity, where appropriate.

Related Items

• Food fraud database Read about the database for local authorities
• Photos: Drop Vodka (pdf 251KB)

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via food.gov.uk

Drop Vodka warning, this is being sold in the UK and is causing blindness, comas, and various other symptoms, don't buy it. Just announced on LBC.co.uk.
All the best.