From: Editor, Justmeans, More from this Affiliate
Published November 22, 2010 08:09 AM

Caffeinated alcoholic beverage ban: A lost health CSR opportunity

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has weighed in on the health merits of caffeinated alcoholic beverages, declaring that caffeine added to malt beverages constitutes an "unsafe food additive." That essentially makes it illegal to manufacture the beverages which currently bear vivid, youth-inspired names like Four Loko, Joose, and Max.


After several well publicized mass-poisonings on college campuses, these beverages have received lots of attention. By combining, for example, the alcohol content of five cans of beer and the caffeine kick of a cup of coffee masked behind fruity-fizzy flavoring in a single can, these beverages seem purpose-built to prevent responsible consumption. The caffeine and sweet help to mask the flavor and effects of the alcohol, while the alcohol masks the potential jitter-inducing effects of caffeine and sugar.

Was government prohibition the right approach? Possibly not. There are other examples where government regulation hasn't proven as effective as we'd like in mitigating health risks, and where, counter-intuitively, enlightened action by industry could bring both health and business benefit to all parties. For example, plastics manufacturers can gain market share by removing the additive BPA from plastics, instead of waiting for the heavy hand of regulation to sweep it from the market. Regulators frequently hide behind meek "evidence is inconclusive" pronouncements even when common sense suggests that action is sensible.

What the FDA appears to have banned is the addition of caffeine to alcoholic malt beverages. The simple route around this prohibition is to add ingredients that contain caffeine or other stimulants, such as green tea, guarana or taurine. This gets you the same effects, with the same health risks, without technically adding caffeine. Similarly warning letters from the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) warns of health risks associated with the consumption of "alcohol containing adding caffeine." No doubt the malt beverage industry, annoyed by government meddling, will head down this road. Needless to say, consumers still have the option of mixing their own beverages, though doing this likely gives them control of how much kick they are mixing into their brew.

Article continues: http://www.justmeans.com/Caffeinated-alcoholic-beverage-ban-A-lost-health-CSR-opportunity/37648.html

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