Confederation MP: the market introduced energy products for minors in five days? He is wrong

“5 days! It took the market that long to introduce an energy drink for people under 18 years of age, which bypasses the sales ban. Politicians set the maximum level of caffeine in an energy drink at 15 mg/100 ml. So we have 14 mg 🙂 Bravo!” – he wrote January 5, 2024 on website X, MP of the Confederation, Bronisław Foltyn (original spelling of entries from social media).

He attached a graphic to the post – it shows two cans of the same brand of drink with two different flavors. Both cans have information at the top in English stating that 100 ml of the drink contains 14 mg of caffeine.

Before the publication of this article, the Confederation MP’s entry had been viewed over a million times. It was liked by over 2.6 thousand people. users, and shared by over 200.

In subsequent posts in the thread, the Confederation MP pointed out that the composition of energy drinks includes not only taurine and caffeine: “Typical energy drink before regulation: water, sucrose, glucose, acid (citric acid), carbon dioxide, acidity regulator, i.e. sodium carbonates and magnesium carbonate, vitamin B6, niacin, pantothenic acid, vitamin B12, aromas, colors, caramel, riboflavin + taurine (35 mg), caffeine (30 mg). Typical energy drink after regulation: water, sucrose, glucose, acid (citric acid ), carbon dioxide, acidity regulator, i.e. sodium carbonates and magnesium carbonate, vitamin B6, niacin, pantothenic acid, vitamin B12, aromas, dyes, caramel, riboflavin + taurine (15 mg), caffeine (15 mg),” he wrote.

He then said: “After the introduction of ‘light drinks’, fans of regulating the composition of drinks are left with only two options: – either amending the act, – or recognizing that light drinks equal health.”

He posted the results in the next entry voting on the act prohibiting the sale of energy products to minors. They show that 278 MPs voted for the ban, 12 voted against – including seven Confederation MPs (the remaining two did not vote) – and 162 abstained. As we checked, this vote took place in July 13, 2023.

Many Internet users commented on the entry. “It’s nice to have laws that make companies earn more money”; “And here we have the success of Polish politicians. Children will drink 5 instead of one. The amount of caffeine is the same, but sugar is ×5. Well, at least they will increase the sugar tax as part of the fight against obesity,” some wrote.

Others had a positive opinion about the effects of the new ban: “That’s exactly what this regulation was about, bravo”; “The previous drinks had 40-50 mg, so if the new ones have 14 or less, it’s a very big difference”; “Go around? After all, this drink complies with the law. What’s the problem?”; “So you have to spend twice as much for the same amount of caffeine. I’ll give you a hint: it will reduce the consumption of energy drinks among young people. You’re welcome.”

Some argued that the ban was known earlier: “like 5 days, when it was known about it for a long time XD”; “1. No, the market did not adapt in 5 days, because the changes were announced earlier, as well as work on the product. 2. It is not avoiding the ban, it is just adapting. 14mg is a much smaller portion than 40mg, some of which are already illegal for young people energy drinks. It’s not about the caffeine itself, but its huge amount. Some declared that they had seen these products earlier, before January 1, 2024: “Not even five days. I saw them in the old year”; “Not 5 days, I noticed these specific energetics from the picture on December 21 in the Gdynia frog.”

The claim that the market adapted to the ban on the sale of energy drinks in five days is misleading. The ban was introduced by the Act of August 17, 2023 on amending the Public Health Act and certain other acts. She stayed signed by the president on August 21 and announced in the Journal of Laws a week later. The act states that the regulations regarding energy drinks will enter into force on January 1, 2024. So producers had over four months to adapt to the new law.

Since the beginning of the year, there has been a ban on the sale of energy drinks to children and adolescents under 18 years of age. According to the new regulations, an energy drink is a drink that “contains caffeine in a proportion exceeding 150 mg/l (i.e. 15 mg per 100 ml – ed.) or taurine, excluding substances occurring naturally in it.” Therefore, the drink presented by the Confederation MP is not considered an energy drink under applicable law.

Moreover, the new law obliges producers and importers of drinks with added caffeine or taurine to mark the packaging with visible, legible and permanently placed information saying “energy drink” or “energy drink”. From now on, a store seller will also be able to request a document confirming the age of the person buying an energy drink. Selling it to a minor may result in a fine of up to PLN 2,000, and producing or importing inappropriately labeled drinks may result in a fine of up to PLN 200,000 and restriction of liberty.

Let us recall that a draft law banning the sale of energy products to minors she submitted group of Law and Justice MPs on February 9, 2023. Already at this stage, the project assumed that an energy drink is one that contains caffeine in a proportion exceeding 150 mg/l or taurine, excluding substances occurring naturally in it. The project also includes a proposal for new regulations on energy drinks to enter into force on January 1, 2024. Both provisions were included in the adopted act.

Let us remind you that in January 2023, the Provincial Sanitary and Epidemiological Station in Szczecin (and in the following months further stations provincial and district) she servedthat “in Poland, the caffeine content in energy drinks is most often 80 mg/250 ml, taurine – in the range of 500-1000 mg/250 ml.” After conversion, it is 32 mg of caffeine per 100 ml and 200-400 mg of taurine per 100 ml.

Let’s compare: assuming that one can of the drink is 250 ml, then two cans of the drink contain 14 mg of caffeine per 100 ml (35 mg/250 ml, i.e. total 70 mg), which can be legally purchased by anyone regardless of age, contain a lower dose of caffeine than one can of energy drink available from January 1, 2024 only to adults (80 mg/250ml).

However, in order to be available to everyone regardless of age, a drink with taurine must be available by law 14 times less taurine per 100 ml (14 mg per 100 ml) than the energy drink most often has (200 mg/100 ml) according to WSSE.

On Tuesday, January 9, 2024, we asked the Chancellery of the Prime Minister whether the government plans to amend the regulations, including tightening them in terms of the proportion of caffeine or taurine in a drink considered to be an energy drink (currently 150 mg/ml). The next day, the Ministry of Health responded to us and the Chancellery of the Prime Minister passed the questions to us.

The ministry reminded that the level of 150 mg/liter is specified in… regulation No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council (EU) of 25 October 2011. “Each introduced threshold for the content of a given substance that may be harmful to the body encourages producers to reformulate the composition of the product – we can observe this after the introduction of the so-called sugar levy. The new regulations are in force from January 1, 2024. It is too early to assess the effects of the introduced changes” – assessed the ministry.

We also asked the Żabka chain of stores, which introduced the drink presented by MP Foltyn, when it started adjustment work in connection with the entry into force of the described changes in the law and when it introduced new products with lower caffeine and taurine content.

“Products with lower caffeine content are available in the offer of most retail chains and in non-affiliated sales points, so the possibility of their consumption did not appear with new drinks available on the market and it is not true that their sale is a way to circumvent the ban,” it told us Żabka press office.

It was emphasized that “in accordance with applicable law, drinks containing more than 150 mg/l of caffeine or taurine are sold in Żabka stores only to adults.” It was also added that “beverages whose caffeine content is below 150 mg/l are not energy drinks within the meaning of the Public Health Act, cannot be called energy drinks and there is no legal basis to refuse their sale.”