Food Safety Dept fails to check sale despite FSSAI ban
Mass testing of energy drinks soon: Assistant Commissioner
Srinagar, July 02:
The energy drinks, which are dogged in controversies for containing harmful and banned ingredients like “bull urine” and “bull semen”, are being sold in markets across Jammu Kashmir despite Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FASSI) ban that was imposed a month back.
In May, FSSAI ordered ban on manufacturing, sale, distribution and import of four energy drinks.
However, food safety officers have failed to check their sale at retail stores across the State. Even after two months, the Department of Food Safety, J&K is yet to implement ban on energy drinks.
“We have already circulated the notification among food inspectors across J&K but it will take us few days to compile the report after which we will be able to issue any orders regarding the ban,” Assistant Commissioner Food Safety (Headquarters) J&K, Khurshid Ahmad told Rising Kashmir. “As of now, we have ordered mass testing of energy drinks across the State to authenticate claims that they contain harmful and controversial ingredients.”
Energy drinks like Monster, Cloud 9, Tzinga and Red Bull have been surrounded by controversies after various studies found that they contain dangerous ingredients like ‘artificially manufactured stimulants’.
These claims were made after researches including the one by US-based ‘Longhorn Cattle Company’ on energy drinks found “in fact they do contain bull sperm”.
The “bull sperm” controversy seems to stem from the fact that energy drinks includes taurine, an organic acid named after the Latin Taurus, which means bull. Taurine is present in bulls’ liver, semen and urine.
Taurine used in energy drinks like Red Bull and Monster is taken from these sources. A growing cult of Hindu worshippers in India claims that drinking fresh cow urine helps cure them of all diseases including cancer.
The Hindu believers regard cow as a holy animal and say its urine has divine healing properties. Morarji Desai, the fifth Prime Minister of India, from 1977 to 1979, was also an advocate of urine therapy.
In 1978, Desai spoke to Dan Rather on 60 Minutes about the benefits of drinking urine. Energy drinks have been in controversy also due to high caffeine content, a strong psycho-stimulant, which is marketed as an instant source of energy.
Doctors said high caffeine content can have life-threatening impact on blood pressure, heart and brain functioning.
In 2011, a study conducted on energy drinks had found that 44 percent samples of drinks like Red Bull, Coca-Cola's Burn, Cloud 9, Hector Beverages’ Tzinga, Monster Energy Ltd’s Monster Ripper and three of JMJ group’s XXX energy drink brands —Rejuve, Nicofix and Minus had breached caffeine limits. muhassan@risingkashmir.com
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