London - Fears that bottles of French wine containing dried cow's blood could be on sale in Britain despite a ban on using the product following the BSE scare were yesterday played down by supermarket chains and off-licences. They claimed the most likely way British drinkers would get their hands on affected wine would be by buying it on cross-Channel trips.
The latest European scare comes as French authorities seized 100,000 suspect bottles thought to contain the blood after a swoop on 14 vineyards in the Cotes du Rhone area.
Dried bull's blood has long been used as a fining agent to clear wine but its use was banned two years ago following the "mad cow disease" crisis.