HC put stay on FSSAI amendment to increase the level of caffiene in energy drinks

The Bombay High Court granted the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) a three-week deadline to reply to its notification after the country’s apex food regulator amended the existing regulations to permit companies manufacturing energy drinks, such as Red Bull, to increase their caffeine content beyond the stipulated limit. There were two hearings of a public interest litigation to this effect in the High Court recently, and as FSSAI failed to reply to its notification, the amendment was stayed.

Petitioner Yajurvedi Rao filed a right to information (RTI) application seeking information about the increased caffeine content in Red Bull. As per the information he obtained, samples of the energy drink were seized in 2009 by officials of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Maharashtra, and these were found to contain over 200mg caffeine per litre, which was higher than the prescribed limit. Moreover, it stated that Alibaug judicial magistrate had ordered that the seized samples be destroyed.

Anjali Purav, Rao’s advocate, said, “When FSSAI amended the existing regulations to permit energy drink makers, such as Red Bull, to add caffeine beyond the prescribed limits, Rao filed an PIL against the regulator, pointing out that they did so without evaluating the risk to consumers’ health. While the existing regulations stipulated that the prescribed caffeine limit in energy drinks was 145mg per litre, the amended regulations stipulate that caffeinated beverages should contain not less than 145mg caffeine per litre and not more than 320mg per litre.” 

“Through the new amendments the authority proposed to make caffeinated beverages an additional category to those provided in the Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA), 2006. It also undertook the said exercise for the purpose of permitting companies to sell beverages containing caffeine. The most prominent of these was Red Bull,” she added. This information was given to the bench comprising Justices V M Kanade and G S Kulkarni. Purav urged them to restrain the regulator from doing so.

Purav warned that the consumption of caffeine in excess of the prescribed limit could be dangerous. The advocate stated, “Caffeine, being a stimulant, could have an adverse effect on all parts of the body. And that is the reason the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India should refrain from permitting companies manufacturing caffeinated beverages to increase it beyond the stipulated limit. Moreover, in India, there is no supervision to keep the sale and consumption of these beverages in check.”