Taipei prosecutors yesterday confiscated nearly 18,000 cases of Red Bull Energy Drink imported from Austria after it was found that the popular drink contained small traces of cocaine.
Taipei prosecutors and agents from the Investigation Bureau yesterday morning seized 17,165 cases of Red Bull Energy Drink — worth about NT$25 million (US$781,000) — from importer Nanlien International Co in Taoyuan and Kaohsiung. Each case contains 24 cans.
Nanlien International has imported the beverage since 2005. The energy drink contains taunne (a stimulant), caffeine and vitamins.
PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
The confiscated cases were part of a shipment that arrived from Austria last month. Parts of the shipment were intended for retailers and department stores, the bureau said.
Company officials said they were unaware the drinks contained cocaine.
The bureau said some of the products had already made it to market. Prosecutors ordered that the products be pulled from the shelves at convenience stores nationwide pending further investigation.
Cocaine is a Category 1 drug in Taiwan. Manufacturing, transporting and selling it is a criminal offense punishable by death or life imprisonment.
Prosecutors said they made the move yesterday after the National Bureau of Controlled Drugs on Thursday tested Red Bull Energy Drink and found traces of cocaine. The test was conducted following reports that German authorities had recently discovered that energy drinks imported by an Austrian company named Red Bull Asia FZE contained slight traces of cocaine.
Earlier last week, several German states told retailers to stop selling Red Bull Cola energy drinks after tests by the authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia state found 0.4mg per liter in the drink.
Red Bull said its cola was “harmless and marketable in both the US and Europe,” adding that similar coca leaf extracts are used worldwide as flavoring. Its own tests found no traces of cocaine, it said.
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
Both sides of the Taiwan Strait share a political foundation based on the “1992 consensus” and opposition to Taiwanese independence, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today said during her meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Both sides of the Strait should plan and build institutionalized and sustainable mechanisms for dialogue and cooperation based on that foundation to make peaceful development across the Strait irreversible, she said. Peace is a shared moral value across the Strait, and both sides should move beyond political confrontation to seek institutionalized solutions to prevent war, she said. Mutually beneficial cross-strait relations are what the
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
RSS