SABMiller unit in Australia recalls over 1 million bottles of beer

An Australian beer manufacturer owned by SABMiller is recalling more than a million bottles of beer that it said could contain broken glass.

The recall includes Carlton Dry 355ml bottles produced by Carlton and United Breweries in Queensland in October and due to expire by 19 and 20 July 2016 and marked with a "3" on the cartons, or a "3A" or "3B" on bottles.

"This sort of thing is rare but we take the quality of our beers seriously,'' the release said, adding, ''the company has great concerns on the safety of its customers and hence ordered a recall."

Reports, meanwhile, said Carlton and United received a dozen complaints about a chip in the glass beer bottles and that the company needed to issue a review of the large amount of the brew bottles concerned.

The batch of beer being recalled was made in Yatala, Queensland, in October last year.

For SABMiller, which acquired Carlton and United in 2011, the announcement of the recall comes as an unwelcome diversion at a time when it tries to win over controllers around the world for a proposed $106 billion buyout by adversary Anheuser-Busch InBev.

Carlton and United, which likewise claims brands like VB, Fosters, Crown and Cascade, sells roughly 240 million bottles of Carlton Dry a year, so the recall affects less than one per cent of what typically hits store shelves