London supermarkets on lockdown after man ‘injects food with mystery substance’

The substance has been identified at three different supermarkets in west London

There are fears for public health in the nation's capital as yesterday, food from three different west London supermarkets is suspected to have been contaminated after being "injected with needles".

The Tesco Express, Little Waitrose and a Sainsbury’s Local located on Fulham Palace Road were all identified as the sites of suspicious activity and any shoppers who visited there yesterday are being told to throw away their food.

It is currently unconfirmed how many items have been contaminated, but it is thought that the products injected with the mystery substance included processed meats and microwave meals.

The supermarkets were placed on lockdown after the incident last night and one man has already been arrested on suspicion having injected food and trying to cause public harm or anxiety.

Officers were called to one of the locations around 8pm after a man was reported to be shouting abuse at people in the street, after which he was taken into custody.

The Metropolitan Police said in a statement that the man in question was alleged to have "injected foodstuffs with a number of needles" at the aforementioned sites. Hammersmith and Fulham Council issued a rare "emergency alert" across all social media pages, warning people of the possible contamination of their food, adding in a statement: "Members of the public are advised as a precaution to dispose of any food items bought from these supermarkets this evening".

H&F Council’s Environmental Health team are now said to be working with the supermarket branches affected by the injected food.

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