9th November, 2010
Following complaints recieved by readers of Consumer’s Advocate, there are indications that currently there may be contaminated Smirnoff Ice drink on sale.
Smirnoff Ice is a spirit mixed drink made by Guinness Nigeria Plc. It contains 5.5 per cent alcohol and comes in 300 ml bottle and Can.
According to our findings, most of the contaminated bottles contain varying sizes of visible dirty particles. Some of the bottles may require little shaking before the dirts can be seen.
It is not clear if the 35 ml can is also contaminated but consumers are advised to check it properly before drinking.
At a store in Agege where some bottles of the drinks were found, the owner told our reporter that for over two months now, his customers have been complaining about finding dirt in their drinks.
According to the store owner who did not want his name mentioned, after receiving several complaints from his customers, he checked his stock for confirmation.
“ When people continued to complain to us about the dirt they found in the Smirnoff Ice they bought from us, we decided to check our stock for verification. When we checked we discovered it was true. We found out that for each of the crates we had, there were two or three bottles containing noticeable dirt, †the store owner said
“The discovery was shocking to us because we buy from Tasho, a major depot of Guinness in Idimu. We have our original receipt of purchase of the drink from the depot and we are currently making efforts to notify them about our discovery.â€
To confirm the store owner’s claim that the contaminated bottles were truly from Guinness, considering the high quality for which the company is known, Consumer’s Advocate went to the company’s headquarters in Ikeja.
Our reporter was told that to see the Corporate Affairs Manager of the company, he would need to fill a form, stating his purpose of visit. After filling the form and waiting for over 90mins, the receptionist told him to write an official letter to the company stating the reason for the visit as directed by the manager.
Because of the need for the company to act quickly on the matter, our reporter left a short note with his telephone number for the Manager with the receptionist, but up till the time of writing this report, no response has been received from the company.
Consumers Advocate uses this medium to appeal to the management of Guinness to seriously look into the matter as the lives of thousands of consumers of Smirnoff ice  maybe at risk.
Consumers Advocate is not sure if the contaminated drink is the handiwork of dubious fake drink factories or a quality control lapse from Guinness. Our concern, however, is that Guinness should take necessary action to save the lives of thousands of consumers who are lovers of the brand.
We also call on the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to look into the matter.
We enjoin consumers of all brands of drinks to be vigilant by properly checking their drinks before taking them.
Meanwhile, we assure our exteemed readers that we will continue inform you on further investigations on this matter.
