Fireball whisky liqueur pulled from UK shelves

Sazerac’s Fireball Cinnamon Whisky has now been pulled from shelves in the UK after it was confirmed the batches contained higher levels of propylene glycol – a chemical found in antifreeze – than is permitted in the EU.

Bottles of Fireball Cinnamon Whisky have now been recalled from UK stockists

Earlier this week it was revealed that Finland, Sweden and Norway have been recalling the liqueur from their shelves. While tested batches of Fireball meet food regulations in the US, they failed to meet the stricter regulations in the European Union.

The brand’s UK distributor Hi-Spirits is now overseeing the recall of Fireball bottles from the shelves of UK stockists.

However, both Sazerac and Hi-Spirits have said that batches of the US formulation of Fireball were accidentally shipped to a European bottler. Hi-Spirits added that its believes this formulation of Fireball complies with regulations in the US, Canada, Australia and all other markets except the EU.

Sazerac, meanwhile, has hit back at criticsims propylene glycol is unsafe to drink, claiming: “All Fireball formulas are absolutely safe to drink and the use of PG in Fireball creates no health risk whatsoever.”

The US Food and Drug Administration has deemed propylene glycol as an additive “generally recognised as safe” to be used in consumer products such as food, animal food, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, plus industrial products.

British stockists are being asked to remove all bottles of Fireball from sale and set the bottles aside for collection and return.

Hi-Spirits will then send out a form for stockists to complete to advise how many cases of Fireball they have in stock and where they can be collected from.

“On behalf of Sazerac, we sincerely apologise to all Fireball stockists and their customers,” said Jeremy Hill, chairmen of Hi-Spirits. “We have been working for the past few days with a public analyst and the FSA to ascertain which recipe had been shipped to the UK market, and regretfully, we have now been informed that a withdrawal is necessary.”

“We deeply regret the inconvenience to our customers, particularly as we approach the busiest time of year for spirit sales, and we are committed to making sure the collection process, and in due course replacement with new stock, is undertaken efficiently and with the minimum of disruption.”

Stockists should visit www.FireballUK.com/stockistquestions or contact 01932 252 100 for more information.