Five-fold increase in fake alcohol seizures in UK

There has been a five-fold increase in seizures of counterfeit alcohol in the UK since 2009, posing a serious risk to public health, according to figures from Trading Standards.

Counterfeit alcoholic beverages often contain industrial alcohol contaminated with methanol which can have severe or life-threatening effects including blindness. Trading Standards has warned customers to check for spelling mistakes in alcoholic drinks they purchase, whether all bottles are filled to the same level and whether all bottles of the same product look the same, as all these characteristics can indicate counterfeiting.

Counterfeit vodka often has a very strong acetone smell, similar to nail varnish, so it is advisable to also smell the alcohol, before drinking it.

Data compiled by Engineering & Technology magazine, based on figures supplied by Trading Standards in the UK, indicate that counterfeit alcohol and tobacco seizures are on the increase whereas fake-branded clothing and consumer electronics seizures are decreasing.

This could indicate that criminals are transferring to goods which are easier to manufacture and distribute and with higher profit margins.

As with alcohol, seizures of fake food products have also increased five-fold, although absolute numbers remain very small, and tobacco has increased three-fold, since 2009. Meanwhile, cases involving clothing and consumer electronics have gone down by 60 per cent and 50 per cent, respectively.

Beverage companies are starting to turn to technology in their fight against counterfeiting. For example, US wine producer Chateau Montelena has chosen the Bubble Seal, developed by Prooftag, to prevent its highly prestigious wines from being counterfeited. The Bubble Seal is a seal or a label which shows the authenticity of a product, and also ensures traceability of the unit and tamper evidence.

Meanwhile, Sleever International has also developed the ‘Holosleeve’ which uses three kinds of anti-counterfeit technologies. Each label has a hologram which is destroyed when the bottle is opened, while the bottles are shrink-wrapped and embossed with a 3D motif which provide a unique and hard-to-copy pattern. The Hennessy Cognac Company has decided to adopt this technology to protect their beverages.

Meanwhile, a team at the University of Leicester Space Research Centre had developed a device which uses light to analyse a bottle's contents to see if it is counterfeit. Genuine brands have signatures and the device provides a signature of the contents. The two are then compared and if they are not identical, the device shows that the bottle is counterfeit.