'Human waste' found in Coca Cola cans at plant in Northern Ireland

Coca Cola said the issue was identified "immediately" and that it had no impact on its products on sale. Photo / 123RF

Police are investigating after suspected human waste was found in a number of empty cans at a Coca Cola factory in Northern Ireland.

Night shift workers at the Lisburn plant made the shock discovery inside a number of cans on the production line, the Belfast Telegraph reported.

"It was absolutely horrible, and the machines had to be turned off for about 15 hours to be cleaned," a source told the paper.

"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."

Coca Cola said the issue was identified "immediately" and that it had no impact on its products on sale.

In a statement, the company said: "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 Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI)."

A PSNI spokesman 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 investigation is at an early stage and there are no further details available at this time."

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) said there was no evidence to suggest the contaminated cans had reached the market in Northern Ireland.

"The incident is subject to an investigation by the PSNI and the environmental health unit of Lisburn and Castlereagh city council," the FSA said