The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has asked Hector Beverages, owner of the Tzinga energy drink, and three others to recall their energy beverages for using ingredients that are ‘not safe’.

The Authority has sent notices to several companies, including Hector Beverages and Pushpam Foods and Beverages. The notice came after the FSSAI withdrew its no-objection certificate for these products.

It directed these companies to recall products from the market as they have been declared unsafe. The drinks include three flavours of the Tzinga and four products under brand Cloud 9 energy drink by Pushpam Foods and Beverages.

Meanwhile, FSSAI also asked Chennai-based Akoaroma Co to recall its Akoaroma-M Flavour concentrate and Akoaroma Flavour Water.

Replying to a BusinessLine query, a spokesperson from Hector Beverages said: “We duly acknowledge the notice from FSSAI on May 13. We understand that Tzinga is one among the few other energy drinks companies to which the notice has been issued.

“As a responsible company, we will cooperate and immediately comply with the notice. Simultaneously, we are internally investigating this matter and will aim to address this at the earliest.”

The FSSAI had on May 8 also issued withdrawal of no-objection certificate notice to Monster Energy India for their beverage brands Monster Energy and Monster Energy Absolutely Zero. It directed the company to immediately stop the manufacture, sale, distribution and import of these two products.

The key issue with these drinks is the combination of ingredients ginseng and caffeine.

According to the FSSAI’s scientific panel, the “irrational combination” has opposing effect on human body and this combination should not be allowed in any caffeinated beverage.

The NOC withdrawal certificate of some of these companies also states they had either launched new flavours without fresh approvals or had not submitted safety evaluation data.

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