Blossom Cottage recall over exploding bottle fears

Blossom Cottage, the drinks brand owned by SHS Drinks, has recalled a batch of its Morello Cherry Cordial 500ml bottles because of a fermentation problem that could cause bottles to explode.

The affected products have a best before date of July 17 and a batch code ending 16203. They have only been on sale at Sainsbury stores.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) said the product potentially presented a risk to health because it had fermented and pressure might have built up in the bottles.

SHS Drinks, which also owns the Bottlegreen brand, said it had spoken to the FSA and is following all recommended actions. 

In a statement it said: These products have been recalled as a precaution due to fermentation in the bottles, which may cause an increase in the volatility of the product.”

Precautionary Measure

A recall to customers has been issued as a precautionary measure. Purchasers are being advised not to attempt to open the bottles and either to dispose of them or return to Sainsbury for a refund.

It has advised customers to wrap bottles in bags before returning them to the store.

No other Blossom Cottage products were affected.

Point-of-sale recall notices have been displayed in all Sainsbury stores selling the product.

The notices explain to customers why the product is being recalled and tell them what to do if they have bought the product. 

Isolated issue

Blossom Cottage said: “We would like to take this opportunity to emphasise that only the products with the batch code and best before date shown above are affected by this issue.

“No other products manufactured at the same site are affected by this isolated issue. 

“We apologise for any inconvenience caused and thank our consumers for their co-operation during this recall period.”

A spokeswoman for Blossom Cottage told Foodmanufacture.co.uk: "We have found a very limited number of examples in recalled stock where the raised pressure in a bottle has caused doming in the cap. It is possible but unlikely that the pressure rise would be sufficient to force the cap off in a consumer environment. 

"At the time of writing there have been no reports from consumers of the cap failing. The properties of the cap and bottle mean that the cap would fail before the bottle itself."

Earlier this month, thousands of Yeo Valley yogurts were recalled after the products were contaminated with rubber.

Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda, Waitrose and The Co-operative were advised that the products posed a “possible risk” to health, the FSA said.

All of the recalled products were own-label items.

In July, Tesco and Sainsbury recalled a number of own-label pasta products, after the FSA declared they might contain pieces of rubber.