Cheap baby bottles seized from shops

Dozens of baby bottles have been seized from shops, with parents warned they do not meet UK safety standards.

Trading standards officers took the plastic bottles – which have not been tested for choking hazards and other dangers – off shelves at small, independent stores in Hull.

Illegal perfume, candles, toys and tobacco products were also confiscated during visits to 60 retailers.

Hull City Council cabinet member Ted Dolman said: "We don't know what chemicals could be in these bottles, and obviously that prolonged contact with a baby's mouth could cause issues."

He added: "We're particularly worried about the teat of the bottle. We don't know if it's fastened on properly, because it hasn't gone through testing. It could very easily come off."

One bottle, priced £1.50, is packaged in an eye-catching wrapper with a striking image of a new-born baby.

But Dolman said it lacked standard markings to show it was safe to buy.

"When you look at the back of the packaging it doesn't say it was made in the EU or UK.

"It's also got no traceability details, so we don't know that it's gone through sufficient tests."

Dolman, the cabinet member for community safety, conceded that the average person might struggle to identify untested or counterfeit products on shop shelves.

"We're exploring options at the council to make it as easy as possible for people to identify genuine, real goods," he added.

The bottles are among illegal goods being held in a council warehouse.

Inside the darkened room, rows of beige, metal shelves stretch up towards the ceiling.

They are stacked high with transparent plastic bags stuffed with confiscated items.

More than 1,000 fake "squishy dumplings", which have smiley faces but contain chemicals that can cause cancer, according to the council, were taken to the warehouse after being seized earlier this summer.

Other items include perfumes which have an extremely potent scent, similar to the smell of petrol.

Dolman explained: "These perfumes were seized from a store and, upon closer inspection, they're not for sale on the UK market, they're for sale on the United Arab Emirates market."

He added: "I would offer to let you smell it, but I can't even spray it. That's the situation we're in."

The BBC showed one of the bottles to parents in a park in Hull.

Olaniyi Kofoworola, 36, said: "I think it's always highly important that parents look deeper at products and rely on proper standards and products that have reputations.

"It makes me really worried that stuff like this find its way on to the shelf."

Richard Wilson, 56, said: "I think we're all guilty of wanting a bargain, but you don't expect products to be dangerous.

"It's nice to buy something that's cheaper, but when you're looking after your child, it's better to spend that little bit extra to make sure you're safe."

Denise Hoare, 67, who looks after her granddaughter, added: "You're looking at the price all the time when you're on a tight budget and you would just assume, like I did at first, the bottle would pass the safety checks.

"It might be cheap, not the best quality, but you would assume it was safe."

Dolman urged people to contact the council if they spotted suspicious products for sale.

"We're probably never going to take them all off the streets because they keep popping up, but we're going to do everything we can to make sure all residents feel safe," he said.

Last month, the government announced new powers to shut down shops that break the law for up to a year.

At present, stores can be closed for three months, with an option to extend closure to six months using anti-social behaviour legislation.

Dolman added: "We've heard nationally lots of people speaking about tackling dodgy shops.

"If these shops continue to pop up and we continue to have an issue we'll continue to take action."

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