Govt to destroy contaminated energy drinks

Srinagar, July 5:

Government has decided to destroy contaminated energy drinks sold in markets across Jammu and Kashmir despite the ban imposed by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

Assistant Commissioner, Food Safety (Headquarters) J&K, Khurshid Ahmad told Rising Kashmir that Food Safety department has decided to destroy all energy drinks on spot from Monday onwards. 

“We have already issued a circular regarding the contaminated energy drinks directing district food authorities to start market checking across the state and destroy banned energy drinks on spot,” he said.

Ahmad said the companies and their authorized dealers had option of recalling their products from the market if they want “otherwise the department would destroy the banned products”.

In its July 2 edition, Rising Kashmir reported about the unabated sale of energy drinks containing harmful and banned ingredients including “bull urine and semen” across J&K despite FSSAI ban that was imposed in May on their manufacturing, sale, distribution and import of four energy drinks. 

The story had quoted the Assistant Commissioner as saying that food safety department has 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”.

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. (muhassan@risingkashmir.com)