DON'T DRINK RED BULL!
unless you want a Coke high. And,,if
you continue to drink BULL, soon you could be
addicted to BULL and COKE. Keep your children away from BULL.
Traces of cocaine found in Red Bull in Hong Kong
Hong Kong officials have found traces of cocaine in cans of Red Bull, a few days after Taiwanese authorities confiscated close to 18,000 cases of the popular energy drink.
Officials at the Centre for Food Safety said a laboratory analysis found tiny amounts of the illegal drug in samples of "Red Bull Cola," "Red Bull Sugar-free" and "Red Bull Energy Drink", a spokesman said.
The drink has now been taken off the shelves of major supermarkets, the spokesman said in a statement issued late Monday. He added that the amount of cocaine found in the drinks posed little health danger.
Red Bull moved quickly to deny the findings and said independent tests on the same batch of drinks had found no traces of cocaine.
The Centre for Food Safety found traces of cocaine between 0.1 and 0.3 micrograms of the illegal drug per litre, the statement said.
Hong Kong's commissioner for narcotics, Sally Wong, said the government was now taking legal advice on any possible liability for importers and retailers.
"Cocaine is a dangerous drug... The possession and dealing in the drug is a criminal offence," she said in the statement.
Red Bull's Asia Pacific marketing director, Daniel Beatty, said the firm strongly disputed the findings.
"It would have been absolutely impossible for the Hong Kong or any other authorities to have found traces of cocaine in Red Bull Energy Drink," he said in a statement.
"We expect the Hong Kong authorities to recognize their error soon," he said, adding the firm's representatives were already meeting with Taiwanese authorities to point out the error.
Taiwan officials said Saturday they had confiscated nearly 18,000 cases of Red Bull imported from Austria after finding it contained traces of the drug.
Taiwanese authorities ordered the drinks to be removed from shelves pending further investigation.
Red Bull, whose advertising slogan is "Red Bull gives you wings," was founded by Austrian toothpaste salesman Dietrich Mateschitz in the 1980s.
It has since become one of the dominant players in the global energy drinks market.
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China's food safety watchdog says it's inspecting the products and materials of locally-made energy drink Red Bull.
Last week, authorities in Taiwan confiscated thousands of cases of Red Bull imported from Austria after slight traces of cocaine were detected. Six German states also banned sales on Friday after similar test results.
German authorities say the level of cocaine is "too low to pose a health risk". Red Bull's Beijing branch says its products are safe as it doesn't sell any imported ones on the Mainland
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Germany Bans Red Bull After Cocaine TestBERLIN (AP) ―
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Red Bull Cola.
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Six German states have told retailers to stop selling Red Bull Cola energy drinks after a test found a trace amount of cocaine.
The bans started Friday after a sample test conducted by authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia state found 0.4 micrograms per liter in the drink.
According to a Time.com report on the German authorities' analysis, the amount of micrograms of cocaine per can of the drink does not pose a serious health threat. One would reportedly have to drink 12,000 liters of Red Bull Cola for negative affects to be felt, according to the Time.com report. However, German authorities are still concerned.
Five other states in Germany also banned it from shops amid concerns over possible narcotics law violations.
Germany's Federal Institute for Risk Assessment said Monday that the cocaine level was too low to pose a health risk. It planned to produce a more detailed report Wednesday.
Red Bull said its cola is "harmless and marketable in both the U.S. and Europe." It said similar coca leaf extracts are used worldwide as flavoring, and a test it commissioned itself found no cocaine traces.
The company lists the ingredients of Red Bull Cola on its Web site, noting:
Red Bull Cola is a special composition of ingredients, all from 100% natural sources. In addition, it contains flavors derived from both the Kola nut and Coca leaf, ingredients in the original colas.
