Suspected human waste was found in drinks cans delivered to a multinational soft drinks factory in Northern Ireland, prompting police to start an investigation into the matter, according to a media report.
The workers on the night shift at Lisburn's Coca-Cola plant were left horrified when they made the discovery inside a number of cans last week, the Belfast Telegraph reported.
"It was absolutely horrible, and the machines had to be turned off for about 15 hours to be cleaned," the paper quoted a source as saying.
"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."
The source explained the cans arrive at the factory without tops on, to be filled with the fizzy drink before they are sealed and sold across Northern Ireland, the paper said.
A spokesperson for Coca-Cola said the company was aware of the issue and that it had no impact on its products on sale.
"The problem was identified immediately through our robust quality procedures and all of the product from the affected batch was immediately impounded and will not be sold," the spokesperson said.
"We are treating this matter extremely seriously and are conducting a thorough investigation in cooperation with the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI)," said the spokesperson.
A PSNI spokesperson 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 Food Standards Agency 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," it added.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)