Coca-Cola calls for police probe after discovering human faeces in drink cans

New Delhi: A police investigation is underway after popular cola brand Coca-Cola discovered human waste in a consignment of its drink cans at one of the company's factories in Northern Ireland.

On Tuesday, police officials confirmed the ongoing inquiry to understand how human faeces ended up contaminating the cansat the Hellenic Bottling Company factory in Lisburn, Co Antrim.

Night-time processing at the Coca-Cola plant was suspended last week after the machines clogged up.

No on-sale products were affected, the soft drinks giant said. Furthermore, all the defiled cans were impounded with immediate effect, the company added.

According to the Belfast Telegraph, factory workers on the night shift at the plant in Lisburn last week were left horrified when they made the discovery inside a number of cans on the production line.

"It was absolutely horrible, and the machines had to be turned off for about 15 hours to be cleaned," a worker told the paper, adding "it was unusual because normally the cans come from somewhere else in the UK, but this time they apparently came from Germany".

"The rumour is that some poor immigrants could have made that long journey in the lorry and that in their desperation were forced to use the cans instead of a toilet," according to the report.

In a statement, the company told the newspaper: "Coca-Cola takes the safety and quality of our products extremely seriously.

"We are aware of an incident involving empty cans at our plant in Knockmore Hill, Lisburn. We are treating this matter extremely seriously and are conducting a thorough investigation in co-operation with the police.

"The problem was identified immediately through our robust quality procedures and all of the product from the affected production was immediately impounded and will not be sold. This is an isolated incident and does not affect any products currently on sale."

The Food Standards Agency said none of the cans contaminated with faeces had reached the market in Northern Ireland. It added: "The incident is subject to an investigation by the PSNI (Police Service of Northern Ireland) and the environmental health unit of Lisburn and Castlereagh city council."

(With IANS inputs)