The alcoholic beverage company Phusion Projects announced Sunday it would stop shipping and producing its popular drink Four Loko.
Following a scientific study conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, four beverage companies, including Phusion Projects, received warning letters from the FDA stating that the caffeine added to the alcoholic beverages was an “unsafe food additive,” according to an FDA press release.
The release also stated that products like Four Loko were being marketed in violation of federal law, and failure to end production of the drinks could result in seizure of the products.
“There is evidence that the combinations of caffeine and alcohol in these products pose a public health concern,” said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, the principal deputy commissioner for FDA in the release.
By Hannah Button
Phusion Projects officials said the company will change the beverage’s recipe by removing three ingredients — caffeine, guarana and taurine.
The company announced Sunday that it stopped the production and shipment of all products that contain the ingredients.
Several ASU students are not happy with this change.
“It’s just kind of irritating that some people just don’t know how to use the product, so everyone has to have it taken away,” business communications freshman Brian Muller said.
Biology junior Richard Lefevre, ASU’s American Medical Student Association West vice president, said he could see why health officials would raise concerns about alcoholic energy drinks.
“I think that a concentrated drink like that is definitely going to raise concerns among a lot of people,” Lefevre said.
The high concentration of both alcohol and caffeine is where the major problem arises, he said. If the amount per volume was not so high, it wouldn’t be as big of a problem.
“I don’t think it’s such a big deal that you need to change the recipe,” Lefevre said.
It should be up to the consumers’ discretion as to what they put in their bodies, he said.
Mike Smith, an employee at T’s Liquor in Tempe said the changes would not have a large effect on the store’s sales.
Smith said the store was currently out of the product, but would order more when it became available again.
It will be either the first or second week in December, he said.
Reach the reporter at cottens@asu.edu
