Hundreds of highly caffeinated energy drinks have been removed from South Australian shop shelves as the government cracks down.
Over 100 retailers have been inspected as part of the Labor Government’s blitz, with 700 products seized, some containing nearly double the maximum permitted level of caffeine which is 320 mg/L.
Chris Picton MP said the government is actively working to remove the products from shop shelves, but it’s important that businesses play their part too by not importing or stocking these products in the first place.
“The level of caffeine in them can be harmful to both physical and mental health, particularly among kids. Alarmingly, the products appear to be purposefully marketed towards teenagers.
“I’d encourage businesses to check that the energy drinks they sell comply with national food standards, and those purchasing energy drinks should always check the caffeine levels first.”
SA Health officials discovered 18 businesses selling non-complaint energy drink products. Warning letters were issued to 13 businesses and two businesses received expiation notices, totalling $3,000.
The most caffeinated energy drinks found were labelled GFUEL, Bang, and Raze Energy which contained 300 milligrams of caffeine in each 473ml can. That is almost double the maximum permitted amount – equivalent to nine cans of Coca-Cola or three shots of coffee.
Other energy drinks found which exceeded regulations were branded C4, Ghost, Ryse Fuel, 3D and Redcon1, with products seized containing 200 milligrams of caffeine in 473ml cans.
Dr Chris Lease, Acting Chief Public Health Officer, said they’re working with retailers to educate them on the regulations and stop these drinks from making their way onto shelves, and issuing penalties to repeat offenders.
“When you see these products alongside other energy drinks, it’s tricky to tell which ones contain excessive amounts of caffeine without looking closely at the label. Before you check out, check the label for the caffeine level.
“Often, these drinks are imported from overseas and retailers do not realise that they do not comply with our regulations.”
Dr Evangeline Mantzioris, UniSA Bachelor of Nutrition and Food Sciences Program Director, explained that Caffeine is problematic for young people, as they have limited ability to break down caffeine in their body under the age of 18.
“Because of their limited ability to break down caffeine, young people will have caffeine stay in their bodies longer. Higher caffeine levels can cause heart problems, as well as anxiety.
“It increases their risk of heart palpitations, chest pains, shortness of breath and also of fainting. It is of particular concern for young people who have underlying heart problems which have not yet been diagnosed.”
In an effort to reduce the ability for these products to enter Australia as imported foods, the Australian Department for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry has put eight holding orders on various non-compliant energy drink brands.
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I use energy drinks medicinally to help regulate with my Asperger’s. As an adult that doesn’t smoke, vape, drink alcohol etc, if the worst I’m doing is energy drinks then what is the problem? I don’t have health problems and I have been using energy drinks regularly for about 15 years and I can stop without withdrawal. There is no cure for Asperger’s and no medicine you can take, the brain is formed differently, missing brain wiring, extra brain wiring, different body chemical balance, different brain chemistry, sensory overload, meltdowns etc as symptoms. Even these symptoms I just mentioned has variation amongst those with Asperger’s, meaning you can’t just walk up to a specialist and ask for a standard for all Asperger’s because the variation is too broad. At times people with Asperger’s can’t have the common medications because your body chemistry and brain chemistry is different were a non disabled person would be able to have the medicine the first or second time. Different energy drinks have different ingredients and some energy drinks work better then others (and depending on the drink I at times prefer the import because I use them based on effect). If the government wants people to drink non imports then what are they doing to make the local products better? It should be up to the individual which drinks they want to use and some of the complaining is about sugar, yet some are sold sugar free. Some of the seised cans were sugar free. Are we sure all sugar substitutes are safer then actual sugar? I was told years ago sativa was neuro toxic in high doses, not sure if it’s true or not. Some people seem to react badly to some sugar substitutes (I personally know one person) so, if this is about the banning of sugar drinks/sugar drink tax (that is supposed to be coming to Australia) do we have safe alternatives for these people? Do we have clear and accurate labelling of sugar and sugar substitutes? Some of the import cans have anime characters, that doesn’t mean that energy drinks are automatically targeting teenagers because adults are allowed to like sonic the hedgehog as well, there is no automatic switch that you stop gaming/liking anime the day you turn 18. I’m pretty sure sonic the hedgehog has been around longer then I’ve been alive. As for targetting of teenagers energy drinks aren’t going after teenagers here in Australia like other products because they know it would be a problem (Facebook, tic tok, etc). If my teenager were to use energy drinks it would be a lot less of a problem then smoking, alcohol, marijuana etc. I’m as a parent more concerned with the toxic social media trends affecting the teenagers at his high school and therefore influencing him by his peers setting a bad “acceptable” standard. I outright told my teenager that I can’t stop him if he is down the street and buying an energy drink (I’m not stupid enough to think teenagers won’t rebel or be sneaky) but I did say to him honestly that it probably a bad path to go down for him given his ADHD. At times other parents have been caught off guard with how blunt and raw a conversation I had with my son due to me not sugar coating life. At times once the other parents have gotten over the shock they have actually asked me to speak to their children because of my knowledge and lack of sugar coating regarding different issues. If parents have real, raw, honest conversations with their children and make it clear that they are not perfect they can build a real relationship with their children. Two days ago my teenager told me he drank coke cola at school (it’s banned at his high school), as one of the other students regularly drinks it and had a spare can. Last night he told me off about expecting him going to school (he thinks school is a waste of time) and he would rather play video games (he wants a career in gaming and wants to start working already, he hasn’t yet understood what is required to build a career in anything yet but he will eventually as he matures) he was telling me off for being a hypocrite in regards to school attendance, I waited for him to finish and calmly explained why I have the expectations I do and that the part about me being a hypocrite with school attendance wasn’t true (he assumed I wagged school I didn’t the cops were called if we wagged our school by the school or local shops), once I finished he said “oh” and went back to what he was doing, no tears, drama or yelling. If you want to fix problems with teenagers earn their respect, show them that you are worth listening to, if all you do is show that your banning everything that isn’t respect that is sending the message ‘you are too stupid to think and I must punish you as untrustworthy scum by restricting everything’, ‘you are too delicate to handle the simplest of choices and I must forcefully sanitize the world to wrap you up in cotton wool and anything not wrapped in cotton wool is bad’. The first message gets people wanting to rebel because they are being looked at like scum (and being treated as unintelligent when they haven’t actually done anything to make you assume that), so you are inspiring ways to get around the systems flaws and to engage in behaviour they otherwise wouldn’t as a “f**K you”. The second means you are creating a ‘mental infantilism’ and disabling cognitive function so, the victim loses the ability to think independently and relies on you for survival (this is a tactic used by abusers to force the victim into a dependency they mentally can’t get out of). The second also gets people too comfortable with feeling comfortable all of the time because they are so used to being in a sanitized cotton wool cocoon anything different/not cotton wool is a threat to ‘survival’ an must be attacked and sanitized, if not destroyed outright. Look at how this younger generation can’t handle basic things that are common and how aggressive they get when their little bubble gets burst. My nanna spoke of walking 10-20km (can’t remember the exact number and she said miles because Australia was imperial at the time) to school each day, would do the full day at school walk home the 10-20km again and then was expected to do manual farm labour and household chores. How long would some of these 20 years old last if they had to do that for a week? Or a week long digital detox? Look at how much ‘anxiety’ some of these people have now when the entire world isn’t wrapped in cotton wool (particularly if they aren’t getting their way in 5 seconds)? If pregnant and breastfeeding women are using energy drinks while pregnant then that is them being irresponsible, all of the cans say no to breastfeeding and pregnant women even the import cans have this warning. I honestly believe that the government stated reasons of teenagers and pregnant women are an excuse that it’s likely a different motive behind the seizures of these cans since it’s been stated that they took some of the legal ones as well in other articles. Perhaps it’s about controlling the imports before sugar drink tax comes in? I would honestly rather the government deal with the worst issues of our day and fix those then go after trivial matters and adding law after law until everything including breathing is illegal. If you push too many laws it becomes disempowering because practical solutions could become “illegal” or unavailable. These are the thoughts in my head, my opinion, my experiences and not automatically proven facts, use your brain think it though, don’t let someone else think for you.