Energy drinks containing excess caffeine have been seized as SA health authorities target suppliers

Hundreds of energy drinks have been seized and two businesses fined in a South Australian crackdown on products that breach caffeine safety limits.

The campaign to remove unsafe energy drinks from sale in SA was announced last year in the run-up to school exams, amid concerns about the widespread availability of cans containing excessive amounts of caffeine.

SA Health said it was now also taking steps to disrupt supply chains and prevent shipments of the liquor from entering the country, passing on information gained from local investigations to federal authorities.

The government said more than 700 liquors were confiscated during the crackdown and 100 shops including “a number of convenience stores” were inspected.

Of these, 18 outlets were identified as selling “non-compliant” drinks in recent months, while 13 were sent formal warning letters.

Fines of $3,000 were issued to two businesses that continued to stock drinks after being told to stop.

Dr Lease said an SA business was also acting as a drinks supplier.

“An important way to deal with these illegal products is to intercept the change of supply, so we identified suppliers in other states and those suppliers were referred to authorities in those jurisdictions,” he said.

While Food Standards Australia New Zealand has limited the permitted caffeine content of energy drinks to 320 milligrams per litre, the SA government said some drinks discovered in shops and on shelves during the so-called “Blitz” contained almost double that amount – “equivalent to up to nine cans of Coca-Cola or three cups of coffee”.

“These drinks were brought into the country and placed on the shelves in some shops where people have bypassed the rules that were in place.

“You just have to look at a lot of these drinks here to see that they’re aimed squarely at kids — they’ve got cartoon characters, they’ve got video game characters. [on them].”

The government warns of possible persecution

UniSA dietitian Evangeline Mantzioris said drinks with very high levels of caffeine could be harmful to children, but also to women who are pregnant or breastfeeding.

“Those under 18 have a limited ability to break down caffeine in the body,” she said.

“But there’s another group for whom this is problematic and that’s pregnant women and those who are breastfeeding – caffeine crosses the placental barrier and it goes into the blood supply of the fetus, and of course the little unborn baby has less ability to break down caffeine.”

Mr Picton said not all energy drinks were in breach of national standards and the Government had preferred to adopt an “educational” approach with retailers.

“Some of them [businesses] he honestly didn’t know the problems,” he said.

“But these retailers are aware that there are also much higher levels of fines that can be levied against businesses if we decide to prosecute, under the Food Act, and that is still an option if we see people who continue to offend .”

Mr Picton said he would raise the issue at a meeting of state food ministers on Thursday.