The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has decided to conduct a study on the Consumption Pattern of Caffeinated and Energy Drinks in India.
In this regard, the apex food regulator has placed a notice inviting expression of interest from various companies to bid for the study.
With this study, FSSAI wants to understand as to how popular the drinks are amongst various age groups and cities in the country and whether such drinks have any addictive influence on them.
A notice by the body specifies,“The FSSAI intends to review the caffeine standards proposed for caffeinated/ energy drinks after a detailed study on the consumption pattern amongst the various target and consumer groups, and any addictive behaviour and food safety issues associated with it.”
The criteria are thus: target respondents for the survey would be teenagers and youngsters i.e. among students, young professionals, managers and office goers; • Age-group: 15-45 years; • Significant coverage across the gender.
It is pertinent to mention here that recently the apex food authority had rejected NOC (no objection certificate) to many energy drinks for unhealthy mixture of ginseng and caffeine. Furthermore the Delhi High Court had also asked it to make guidelines on aerated drinks and junk food.
Meanwhile, FSSAI recently formed a group of experts to look into the details of the subject of junk food while there has been demand from various quarters to restrict the usage of such drinks.
According to the notice posted by FSSAI, caffeinated/energy drinks are described as any non-alcoholic drinks which claim the ability to provide heightened energy and alertness with their ingredients like caffeine, taurine and other such substances.
The broad objective of the study is to understand the consumption pattern of caffeinated/ energy drinks in India by generating information on profile of the consumers using caffeinated/ energy drinks; relating the consumption of caffeinated/ energy drinks to particular occasion(s); consumption levels among children, teenagers and young professionals; consumer attitude, preferences and buying behaviour; brand preferences and influence pattern for such drinks; specific reasons for consumption; observed behavioural changes, addictive tendencies and withdrawal symptoms, if any, among the consumers; awareness level with respect to advantages and disadvantages of consumption of these drinks; any known incidence of sickness or fatality following consumption of these drinks.
FSSAI says that caffeinated/energy drinks are non-alcoholic beverages containing caffeine, guarana, glucuronolactone, taurine, ginseng, inositol, carnitine, B-vitamins and so on as main ingredients. These act as stimulants.
Consumption of caffeinated/energy drinks in India has shown an upward trend during the past decade. FSSAI seeks to undertake a study on the consumption pattern of these drinks among the young people in the country, particularly the school and the college students, young professionals, among others.
As per the draft standards notified by FSSAI, caffeinated beverages are classified as water based non-alcoholic flavoured drinks and shall contain not less than 145 mg per litre and not more than 320 mg per litre total caffeine from whatever sources it may be derived in the formulation of the product. The list of permitted ingredients has also been listed in the draft regulations.
FSSAI considers it expedient to review the intake of caffeine and other ingredients present in these drinks after conducting a detailed study among various target and consumer groups of caffeinated/ energy drinks to understand their usage pattern, preferences and attitude of the consumer groups towards their consumption in view of various studies recently conducted internationally in this behalf.
The geographical coverage of the study would be across tier-I, tier-II and tier-III cities. Metros/tier-I cities would include Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Hyderabad. • Tier-II and tier-III cities would be Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Coimbatore, Dehradun, Gurgaon, Guwahati, Indore, Jaipur, Kota, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Manipal, Noida, Patna, Pune, Vadodara, Visakhapatnam and Shillong.
