Dangerous Heineken beer bottles traced: Brewer says recall system working well

SOME of the potentially dangerous bottles of Heineken lager have been traced after a nation-wide alert over glass found in one of the beers, the company said yesterday.

Some of the 240,000 bottles of Export lager being recalled in Britain had been found unsold on store shelves, the giant Dutch brewing group said.

Consumers in Britain were warned after glass splinters were found in a 33cl bottle of the strong lager in Amsterdam. The company said defective glass had caused the top of the bottle to break. It was feared 17 million bottles were defective.

'The recall is working very well and the affected bottles are starting to come back,' a Heineken spokesman said. The affected bottles are marked with one of eight numbers in the bottom left hand corner of the rear label. The numbers are 3200, 3201, 3211, 3214, 3223, 3224, 3231 and 3232.

Anyone finding a bottle marked with any of those numbers should return it to the shop. Three-and-a-half million of the affected bottles have been sent to Austria, Hungary, Israel, Britain, Canada, Hong Kong, Sweden and Finland. There have been no reports of anyone being hurt.

People needing advice should ring the Heineken helpline on 071-396 6660.