Rodent Fur In Heinz Ketchup Found By Brazil Health Officials In Mexico-Made Condiment

Brazilian officials have banned all sales, distribution and marketing of a batch of Heinz ketchup made in Mexico after detecting traces of rodent fur in the bottles, which were imported into the country last year. The tainted bottles have reportedly already been pulled from store shelves, and there's no word yet on the extent of the contamination or the volume of the products that had been pulled.

The Federal Commission for Protection against Health Risks in Brazil (Cofepris) ordered "a verification of GMP to the floor of the U.S. company HJ Heinz in Mexico," said a spokesperson of the commission, which is under Ministry of Health. Also, Cofepris asked the company "a detailed report of the presumably contaminated batches that were detected in Brazil," and to specify whether the product was distributed in Mexico. Mexican authorities were very cooperative and have ordered an inspection of the factory where the batch was produced.

This move came after the Health Surveillance Center of Sao Paulo ordered earlier this month the withdrawal of the lot in question, following a complaint from a consumer association, who denounced irregularities in the product distributed in supermarkets in the metropolitan region of Sao Paulo.

The existence of animal hair in Heinz ketchup had been reported in February by an NGO who watches for the consumer protection, and based their findings on laboratory tests to the batch 2C30 purchased in a supermarket in the city of Sao Bernardo do Campo in December last year.

At that time, the Brazilian subsidiary of Heinz reported that "he had no opportunity to evaluate the product or to endorse pattern accuracy test," but now that they corroborated the studies, they are taking action to bring their consumers quality products.