The upholding of the French Government's ban on Red Bull will make no difference to the company as the energy drink has been banned there for the past 10 years, a spokesman for Red Bull Ireland said yesterday.
The French ban was made on the grounds of food and nutrition laws which stipulate a maximum allowed caffeine content in products.
Mr Killian Burns, communications manager of Red Bull Ireland, said the European Court of Justice decision was based on a pre-2000 situation and the situation had changed since.
The European Commission had since clarified the labelling requirements of caffeinated drinks and Red Bull complied with these requirements, he said.
Mr Burns pointed out that Red Bull had been on sale in this State for almost 10 years and had always been labelled as "not suitable for diabetics, children and persons sensitive to caffeine".
From July next, EU laws mean that drinks with a caffeine content greater than 150 mg per litre must be labelled "high caffeine content".
A can of Red Bull contains the equivalent amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee.
Red Bull is an extremely popular drink in this country - 32 million cans were sold here last year.
Safefood - the all-island Food Promotion Board has expressed concerns about the close association between Red Bull and alcohol, and Red Bull and sport.
Dr Thomas Quigley, science and technical director of Safefood pointed out that dehydrating effect of alcohol or sports activities would be accelerated by caffeine drinks such as Red Bull. Mr Burns said Red Bull had not been formulated to deliver rehydration. The company encouraged people who engaged in sports to drink lots of water during exercise.
The Department of Health is reviewing its policy on stimulant drinks in the wake of the European Court of Justice decision.
"This ruling means no change," Mr Burns said. "Red Bull will continue to be sold in 100 countries worldwide including 13 of the 15 EU member states." Red Bull has been banned in Denmark, as well as France, for the past 10 years.
Mr Burns said clinical data, tests and numerous toxicological evaluations had all concluded that Red Bull was safe to drink.
