Police have launched an investigation after what appears to be human feces were found in a shipment of cans delivered to a factory in Northern Ireland.
Workers on the night shift at Lisburn’s Coca-Cola plant made the gruesome discovery after a container of cans thought to have arrived from Germany mysteriously clogged the machines.
As the Belfast Telegraph reported, the cans arrive at the factory without tops on and are then filled with the drink before being sealed and distributed.
“It was absolutely horrible, and the machines had to be turned off for about 15 hours to be cleaned,” a source 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 rumor 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.
“It’s really shocking – and beyond the shock of finding something pretty disgusting in the cans is the thought there could have been poor people in that situation. And if they did make that journey, where are they now?”
The consignment of soiled cans was immediately impounded, Coca-Cola said in a statement, and will “not be sold.”
“Coca-Cola take the safety and quality of our products extremely seriously […] This is an isolated incident and does not affect any products currently on sale.”
The drinks giant added that it was investigating the matter with the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).
The PSNI said: “Detectives are investigating an incident at commercial premises in the Lisburn area following reports that a consignment of containers delivered to the premises had been contaminated.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) in Northern Ireland said there was no evidence to suggest the contaminated cans had reached the market.
“The incident is subject to an investigation by the PSNI and the environmental health unit of Lisburn and Castlereagh city council,” the FSA said.