Credit: Pixabay.

Federal investigators have seized 199,000 litres of fake tequila from a property in the El Álamo industrial park in Jalisco, Mexico, after receiving a complaint by the Tequila Regulatory Council (CRT).

Inside a building in the industrial park, investigators from the Public Prosecutor’s Office and Criminal Investigation Agency found two metal containers filled with 100,000 litres each of a colourless liquid that ‘smelt like alcohol’ and labels with Tequila La Noria, S A de CV written on them.

The alcohol was taken to a warehouse belonging to the Attorney General’s office and investigations into whether the seized liquid is a faux are ongoing. Genuine tequila is made from 100% blue agave stems, rather than other types of agave or other parts of the plant.

The CRT has previously spoken out against what it perceives as lax regulation on tequila production, which leads to the sale of drinks that are not actually tequila being labelled as such and sold for lower prices than genuine tequila. It also claimed fake tequila production is supported by a chain of corruption, fraud and bribery.

CRT general manager Ramón Gonzálex Figueroa told Milenio: “The agave chain [of production] is not afraid of the competition, but is unhappy with unfair competition because the consumer is being played for a fool.”

It is believed this is the largest confiscation of fake Mexican tequila with the previous record being 11,340 litres seized in Chile in December.

In February, the Mexican police closed two black market tequila operations and confiscated almost 20,000 gallons (90,922 litres) of alcohol; 235 gallons of which contained dangerous levels of methanol.

The seizure from the second distillery of 1,000 gallons included 30 gallons of pure cane alcohol, 150 gallons of other alcoholic products and 800 gallons of a product made from parts of the agave not legitimate for tequila production according to the CRT.

A 2017 government report found that 36% of all alcohol consumed in Mexico is illicit because it produced under unregulated conditions. There have been a rising number of cases of tourists getting ill and experiencing blackouts, which is suspected to be linked to consuming false tequila.