More than 300 bottles of counterfeit wine have been seized from off licences in Barking and Dagenham.

A total of 220 bottles of counterfeit Jacob’s Creek was found by trading standards officers at 56 different businesses in the borough

A council spokesman said: “An independent scientific analysis of the wine revealed that it is not genuine Jacob’s Creek,”

“The wine is poor quality with an obvious taste difference to the original. However, the substance is not harmful.”

Officers acted on the back of intelligence received from Pernod-Ricard, the parent company of the Jacob’s Creek brand.

The team, who visited 120 outlets, also seized 70 counterfeit bottles of Blossom Hill Sauvignon Blanc 2008. Analysis revealed that the ‘wine’ was actually a crude mixture of alcohol, water and wine.

And 16 bottles of counterfeit Bollinger champagne were taken from one of the premises visited.

In all cases the fake wine was in bottles with convincing labels, making it difficult to spot that the product was not genuine. But customers can look for spelling mistakes on labels if they are suspicious.

Trading standards is investigating where the bottles have come from. Appropriate action will be taken against the businesses caught selling the counterfeit products.

Anyone who suspects a trader is selling counterfeit goods, whether it is alcohol, cigarettes or any other product, should call trading standards on (020) 8215 3007.