Issuing a public notice on Monday, the department also instructed importers and dealers of these brands to recall the energy drinks from the market.
“We have decided to ban sales and distribution of Red Star and Rhino-S brand of energy drinks,” Pramod Koirala, spokesperson of DFTQC, said. “Rhino-S has not mentioned the ingredients that it uses and Red Star has product information in foreign language that cannot be understood by Nepalis.” [break]
As per the Food Act 1980, any product manufactured in Nepal or imported should include manufacturer´s name and address, manufactured date and expiry date, ingredients used and batch number either in English or Nepali.
According to the department officials, around 25 energy drinks brands are available in the market. Most of these products come from countries like Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, England and India.
“Though these drinks are sold only in pharmacies in many countries, they are easily available in most of the stores here,” Koirala, who is also a senior food research officer at DFTQC, said. “Energy drinks are pharmacological products. They should be consumed in limited quantity only as they contain caffeine.”
A study conducted by the department shows energy drinks are available in 141 countries across the world. Countries like Denmark, France and Turkey have banned such drinks, citing health hazards.
Koirala said many Nepali youngsters and even athletes have been found consuming energy drinks to boost energy level and also to lose weight.
“We are conducting a technical study on energy drinks to identify their grade. Then we will formulate guidelines to monitor them,” he added.
Officials of the department had said last year that they were doing homework to formulate a set of guidelines on energy drinks.
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