BFAD lab tests for cocaine in Red Bull energy drink still on

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) is monitoring markets and stores for “Red Bull" energy drink after the agency announced Thursday the product could be tainted with cocaine. BFAD Director Leticia Gutierrez said Friday that inspection teams are taking samples of the bottled drink from stores. "Yung aming inspector pina-market monitoring namin. Nagpakuha kami ng samples ... tuloy ang market monitoring to find out kung may papasok sa merkado galing Australia. Right now ang nakita ng aming inspector ang gawa sa Thailand," Gutierrez said in an interview on dwIZ radio. [We sent inspectors to conduct market monitoring. We took samples to find out if supply from Australia got into the Philippines. So far we have found the stocks coming from Thailand.] But she said the BFAD has yet to issue an order to retailers to pull out Red Bull products from their shelves while the tests are ongoing. Gutierrez said they have sent some samples to the BFAD laboratory for examination, including those imported from Thailand. On Thursday, government advised the public to temporarily refrain from drinking Red Bull after some of its products in Australia tested positive for cocaine, an addictive substance that stimulates the nervous system. Negative The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) reported Friday that the first batch of samples of energy drink “Red Bull" tested negative for cocaine. The samples included six bottles of the energy drink. Senior Undersecretary Dionisio Santiago, PDEA Director General, said the samples of energy-boosting products they tested were submitted by pharmaceutical store chain Watson’s after reports came out that traces of cocaine had been found in Red Bull products Hong Kong imported from Australia. “Based on the initial report from the PDEA Laboratory Service, the samples of (Red Bull Supreme) energy drink submitted by a pharmaceutical and health shop yielded negative results for the presence of cocaine," Santiago said. According to the BFAD, the Red Bull products distributed by Energy Food and Drinks (EFD) in the Philippines are imported from Thailand and not from Australia. Santiago said the PDEA is still testing a second batch of samples of other brands submitted to the anti-drug agency by the BFAD. The results of the laboratory tests for the subsequent batches will be released on Monday. PDEA spokesman Derrik Carreon told GMANews.TV in an interview that other brands still being tested included Red Bull Sugar-Free, Bacchus, I-On, and Lipovitan. Carreon said other brands of energy drinks might still be added from the current list of products being tested. “Naniniguro lang naman kami. Let’s just wait for other results. Anyway, similar lang naman ang composition lahat niyan. We just have to look for cocaine [We just want to make sure that all products are cocaine-free. Anyway, these products have similar compositions]," Carreon said over the phone. Despite Friday’s initial results, the PDEA still advised the public to be wary in taking in energy drinks until laboratory tests are completed. “The PDEA joins its counterparts from the BFAD in warning the public to exercise extreme caution in consuming any energy drinks pending the final results of the tests on these products," Santiago said. After news broke out about cocaine-tainted products abroad, the Philippine Association of Supermarkets (PASI) immediately ordered the pull out of red bull products from their shelves to quell public fear. 'Yung merkado din ang iniisip namin kasi kami yung binibilan. Direct retailer kami [We are thinking about our consumers because we are direct retailers]," said PASI secretary general Federico Ples. The EFD declined to issue a comment on the issue pending its coordination with TC Pharmaceutical Industries Co. Ltd, from which the local distributor imports its Red Bull Supreme Energy Drink. - with Mark Merueñas, GMANews.TV