Cocaine Claim
In May 2009, food regulators from Germany discovered trace amounts of cocaine from coca leaf extracts in Red Bull Cola, Pepsi One, and Diet Coke. Red Bull GmbH responded by insisting that only de-cocainised coca leaf extracts are used the production of Red Bull Cola. The amounts in question are minute, around 0.13 micrograms of cocaine in a can of Red Bull Cola, so about 100,000 liters of the cola would need to be consumed for the cocaine to be harmful, according to Bernhard Hoffman, a food scientist for North Rhine-Westphalia who conducted the Red Bull study. Despite this, the drink was ordered off the shelves in the German states of Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Thuringia and Rhineland-Palatinate. After the "German Institute for Risk Assessment" declared the product safe in a study, the drink was put back on sale from 24 August 2009 onwards.
After the news of the German ban, Taiwan confiscated 18,000 cans of Red Bull Energy Drink, but acknowledged the mistake later.
Read more about this topic: Red Bull Cola
Famous quotes containing the words cocaine and/or claim:
“Everybody who does not live in a prostitute’s bed and on a diet of cocaine snow is called an ascetic nowadays.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“As Jerome expanded, its chances for the title, “the toughest little town in the West,” increased and when it was incorporated in 1899 the citizens were able to support the claim by pointing to the number of thick stone shutters on the fronts of all saloons, gambling halls, and other places of business for protection against gunfire.”
—Administration in the State of Ariz, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)