THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The food safety authorities have landed in a fix with the laboratories in the state failing to test samples energy drinks for toxic contents.
Following the direction from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, the food safety authorities in Kerala had collected samples of imported energy drinks sold in the Kerala market.
However, none of the laboratories is capable of carrying out tests for all the 40 parameters needed to be scrutinized.
A senior food safety official said none of the laboratories have the facilities required to check on the parameters.
The crackdown on energy drinks was launched following complaints on low quality drinks being illegally imported to the state.
“The labs here can check only eight to 10 parameters. We have approached almost every laboratory having FSSAI accreditation but none of them have the necessary facilities. Our preliminary investigation revealed that low quality drinks are flooding the market through referral marketing or multi-level marketing,” said the official.
The official said that the most of the energy drinks have high level of caffeine which can have an adverse impact on health.
“Energy drinks are very popular among youngsters and regular consumption can have an adverse impact on the nervous system,” said the official.
However, tracing the source is a major challenge. “We have expanded our search for laboratory in other states. We will be able to trace the distributors and take action only after getting the lab results,” said the official.
