Coke cans found with human faeces at Northern Ireland factory
Employees of Coca-Cola got the shock of their lives when they made a gruesome discovery of human faeces inside a number of Coke cans at the company’s Northern Ireland bottling factory.
The workers made the gross discovery during their night shift at the Coca Cola bottling plant at Lisburn.
A police investigation has since been launched into the situation after the company suspended the night-time processing when machines became clogged.
The human waste was understood to be in a shipment of cans from a German supplier before the drink was added. The Northern Ireland plant usually sources its cans from a UK supplier.
"It was absolutely horrible, and the machines had to be turned off for about 15 hours to be cleaned," a source told the Belfast Telegraph.
"It was unusual because normally the cans come from somewhere else in the UK, but this time they apparently came from Germany."
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) confirmed on Tuesday that it had opened an inquiry into how faeces ended up in the cans at the Helllenic Bottling Company factory.
Coca-Cola said all the affected cans were impounded and that the contamination didn’t affect any products that are currently on sale.
“Coca-Cola takes the safety and quality of our products extremely seriously,” the soft drinks giant told the Belfast Telegraph.
“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 PSNI.
“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 cans arrive at the factory without tops, to be filled with the fizzy drink before they are sealed and sold across Northern Ireland.
