have been on to something.
The latest buzz about the popular energy drink is a widening
controversy over whether its products actually contain traces
of the illegal drug.
Hong Kong officials are the latest to come out with a charges that
Red Bull drinks tested positive for traces of cocaine. The charges
come a few days after Taiwanese authorities confiscated close to
18,000 cases of the drink.
Red Bull authorities are quick to deny the findings and say independent
tests they performed on the same batch of drinks did not turn up
any traces of cocaine.
Still, cases of Red Bull are being pulled off the shelves in major
Hong Kong supermarkets on the heels of the findings.
The Asian authorities are likely taking a closer look at Red Bull in
light of concerns raised by German regulators over a completely
different Red Bull product, Red Bull Simply Cola, that does use
de-cocainized coca leaf extract as a flavoring agent. That product
is now banned in six German states.
Red Bull insists the use of the de-cocainized coca leaf is acceptable
in many countries—including the US—and has long been considered
to be safe.
"The FDA has no worries about this ingredient, and they are pretty
strict about what comes in and out of this country," says spokeswoman
Nyla Hassell.
In fact, the coca leaf has long history of use in colas. You may recall
the cola recipe from John S. Pemberton, the inventor of Coca-Cola ,
included this flavoring agent.
While some may say it's never good for a product to be pulled from
store shelves, it is possible that the controversy is just the thing Red
Bull needs to "give wings" to its sales.
Not only does Red Bull need to stay fresh among the competition
on a very crowded shelf of rival energy drink brands, but the
category also faces the rising popularity of energy shots such as
5-Hour Energy, Nitro2Go, and NOS.
These highly concentrated, two-ounce shots offer consumers the
same basic mix of caffeine and B-vitamins as energy drinks and
often appeal to a slightly different consumer, still many expect
that category is about to explode and if it does, it could begin to
cannibalize energy drink sales.
Nonetheless, Red Bull is no stranger to hyper-caffeinated chatter
about what it's secret formula is. There were once unfounded rumors
that bull sperm was among its ingredients.
