Cocaine 'found in Red Bull' in Hong Kong
Pastor Dale Morgan
Cocaine 'found in Red Bull' in Hong Kong*
AFP
HONG KONG (AFP) – Hong Kong officials say they 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.