Authorities Ask Red Bull To Explain Cocaine Found In Red Bull Sold In Germany

[DaleBlue]

Will anyone arrest me if I consume poppy seed bun?

[kurtgruen]

FDA asks Red Bull makers to explain after trace cocaine found in Red Bull beverage sold in Germany

BANGKOK, 28 May 2009 (NNT) – Secretary General of the Food and Drug Administration, MD Pipat Yhingseri, said that the German Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection recently found traces of cocaine at 0.4 micrograms per liter in the Red Bull Simply Cola beverage. The beverage is now forbidden for sale within 6 German states.

MD Pipat said that samples had been taken from the product and will be tested by the Thai Department of Medical Science, with results expected within one week. The FDA Secretary General said that officials would coordinate with Red Bull representatives in order to discuss the matter. He added that Red Bull Simply Cola was not widely sold in Thailand due to lack of consumer preference.

MD Pipat said that the low amount of cocaine present in the beverage did not pose a risk to consumers, but officials would nonetheless work to find out how a controlled narcotic was found in a consumer product.

-- NNT 2009-05-28

Whow, does that make my "Bad Bull" T-shirt more valuable now?

[sriracha john]

Sorry, no cocaine in our Red Bull Cola

The Food and Drug Administration yesterday urged consumers to stay calm, saying that the Red Bull Cola that reportedly showed traces of cocaine was not the same as the version sold in Thailand.

"The Red Bull Cola formula as appeared in the news in Germany was developed by Red Bull GmbH in Austria and manufactured in Switzerland.

"Meanwhile, the Red Bull Energy Drink marketed in Taiwan was manufactured and exported by Red Bull GmbH in Austria," FDA Secretary-General Pipat Yingseri said.

The cola product sold locally is manufactured by Kratingdaeng Cola Co Ltd.

The FDA has collected all samples of cola drinks available in the domestic market for lab tests, he said. The results should be known next week.

If cocaine is found in any drink, the manufacturer will be liable to imprisonment of up to 20 years and a fine of Bt2 million-Bt5 million, he said.

Red Bull Simply Cola was pulled from shelves in parts of Germany last week due to a study that showed it contained minute traces of cocaine, at 0.4 micrograms per litre.

Taiwan confiscated up to 18,000 cases of Red Bull products, while in Hong Kong, Red Bull drinks have been pulled from the shelves while authorities test them.

Yesterday, Red Bull also issued a statement, even though Red Bull Simply Cola is not available in Taiwan, saying that Red Bull Energy Drink, unlike sister beverage Red Bull Simply Cola, is not flavoured from "decocainised" coca leaves.

"There were some concerns in Germany about the legal qualification of decocainised coca leaf extract that is issued in the production of an entirely different product - one that is not even available in Taiwan or any other Asian market - Red Bull Simply Cola and not [Red Bull] Energy Drink," the statement said.

"It would have been absolutely impossible for the Taiwanese authorities to have found traces of cocaine in Red Bull Energy Drink. Red Bull Energy Drink does not even contain decocainised coca leaf extract."

-- The Nation 2009-06-02

[sriracha john]

As the notoriety and news builds up around the world with events in Germany, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Thailand... will the publicity remain as a positive sales thing for the Thai-owned and headquartered company?

also, what's with The Nations' headline? Sounding apologetic... like it's a bad thing there isn't cocaine in the local Red Bull.

Edited June 1, 2009 by sriracha john

[sriracha john]

Mainland China weighs in...

Red Bull produced in mainland 'safe'

Days after traces of cocaine were detected in a widely popular energy drink, its Beijing-based producer Monday assured the product was "safe for consumption" on the Chinese mainland, China Daily reported.

Zhang Lei, the spokesman of Red Bull Company's Beijing branch, told the Beijing-based paper that "Our products, which are made on the Chinese mainland, do not contain cocaine and other ingredients banned under the Chinese food safety regulations."

He said the Red Bull energy drink, which is produced in the mainland, has an "independent formula completely different from the one used overseas".

"And we don't sell any imported Red Bull products on the mainland," said Zhang.

Last week, the Taiwanese local authorities confiscated nearly 18,000 cases of Red Bull imported from Austria after slight traces of cocaine were detected in the drink.

The cases, worth around NT$25 million ($772,500), were removed from the local importer's warehouses, Taiwan media reported on Saturday.

The shipment had arrived on the island from Austria in April.

Authorities in Taiwan ordered the drinks removed from the market pending an investigation.

Six German states also banned retailers from selling Red Bull Cola on Friday after a test found traces of cocaine in the drink.

Red Bull spokesman Zhang said: "Immediately after hearing the news, we contacted our colleagues in Austria, who rechecked the cases produced with the batch shipped to Taiwan but found no hints of cocaine."

He also said their Beijing office would apply for a clean check from the Ministry of Health to protect the product's market reputation.

Shops and supermarkets on the Chinese mainland continue to sell the energy drink.

Sun Ye, a communications officer at the Shanghai-based Lotus Super market, said the volume of sale of Red Bull had "not been affected" yet.

"We will continue to have Red Bull on our shelves until we get an order from the authorities to remove them," she said.

Chen Bo of Carrefour in Shanghai, also said they were waiting for word from the authorities.

"As of now, we haven't received any official report or notice about Red Bull products," said Huang Yushuang, a salesman at C-Store in Tianhe district, Guangzhou, Guangdong province.

Red Bull set up the China Red Bull Vitamin Drink Co Ltd in Shenzhen, Guangdong, in 1995, and three years later moved the manufacturing unit to Beijing.

-- The Nation 2009-06-02

[sriracha john]

Red Bull drinks in Malaysia ‘not from Austria’

PUTRAJAYA, June 3 – The Health Ministry today said that Red Bull energy drinks sold in Malaysia are imported from Thailand and packaged in cans or bottles in the country, and are not brought in from Austria.

The ministry’s Food Quality and Safety Division Director Nooraini Mohd Othman said Malaysia did not import Austrian-made Red Bull and Red Bull Cola drinks, which have been banned in countries like Germany, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, after minute quantities of cocaine were detected in them.

“Since 2001, the ministry prohibited the import of Red Bull products from Austria after their caffeine content did not meet the standards stipulated in the Food Act 1983 and Food Regulations 1985,” she said in a statement here today.

The statement was issued in response to a notice issued by the distributor of Red Bull products in Malaysia in a local daily on Monday which stressed that its products in Malaysia did not contain any alcohol or drug and met all local food laws.

The notice came in the wake of various countries banning Red Bull drinks imported from Austria because of the cocaine content.

– Bernama (Malaysia) / 2009-06-03

[mbattaglia89]

I remember seeing a drink in Texas (not sure where else it's been released) called Cocaine. My friend and I drank one and were a little suspicious of the ingridients. Oh well, monster is liquid crack and now red bull really DOES have coke. who needs beer with energy drinks like that

[sriracha john]

No cocaine found in energy drinks: Philippines DEA

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency on Monday said it found no traces of cocaine in samples of energy drink brands that were endorsed for testing by the Bureau of Food and Drugs.

PDEA Chief Dionisio Santiago said the PDEA Laboratory Service worked overtime during the weekend on the energy drink specimens that were submitted by counterparts from the BFAD. He said the brands tested include Sting, Ion, Power Gold, two variants of Bacchus, Lipovitan and two variants of Red Bull Supreme.

“After thorough examination over the weekend, the PDEA Laboratory Service reported that the samples of energy drinks submitted by our BFAD counterparts yielded negative results for the presence of cocaine. We hope this will allay consumers’ concerns regarding the safety of (consuming) these products,” Santiago said in a statement.

Local authorities earlier warned the public to temporarily refrain from purchasing and consuming energy drinks after reports came out that one of the leading brands being sold in Hong Kong and Germany was found to have been containing cocaine.

The BFAD issued the warning after distributors of Red Bull Energy Drink Hong Kong and Germany have recalled their products which reportedly contained small amounts of cocaine. Some grocery owners in Metro Manila have removed Red Bull from their shelves.

Earlier, T.C. Pharmaceutical gave the assurance that the Red Bull products it exports to the Philippines are manufactured in Thailand and sold in bottles, unlike those sold in Hong Kong, which are distributed in cans and are manufactured in Europe.

The Thai company also said Red Bull’s ingredients are well-publicized and that they do not support recent claims against the energy drink which, according to industry sources, may be motivated by an effort to bring down Red Bull as the top-selling drink in its class worldwide.

- ABS CBN News (Philippines) / 2009-06-08

[JoeThePoster]

Zhang Lei, the spokesman of Red Bull Company's Beijing branch, told the Beijing-based paper that "Our products, which are made on the Chinese mainland, do not contain cocaine and other ingredients banned under the Chinese food safety regulations."

With the exception of scrap paper, insect parts, and / or lead.