High on caffeine
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Energy drinks made the news after Health Canada issued a recall notice in August 2023. The products of various brands, which include Prime, Monster, and many others, are being recalled due to non-compliance with labelling requirements and high levels of caffeine content.
Consumer products sold in Canada are required to display mandatory information in both English and French. Many of the recalled products lack the necessary French version, an issue easily resolved by updating packaging labels. However, non-compliance with caffeine levels will require that brands change to their formulas or adopt resealable packaging to work around the limits of single-serving containers.
In 2013, Health Canada published their guidance document to update the regulation of caffeinate energy drinks. Health Canada lists multiple criteria that must be met by companies who distribute these products. They state that "for a single-serving container, the maximum amount of caffeine shall not exceed 180 mg, per container. Similarly, for a multi-serving container, the maximum level of caffeine shall not exceed 180 mg, per serving (500 mL)." Health Canada considers any non-resealable containers as single serving.
In the United States, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) regulates products containing only pure or highly concentrated caffeine, but it does not impose limitations on the level of caffeine in caffeinated energy drinks. The FDA has cited that, for healthy adults, 400mg of caffeine a day is not generally associated with negative effects.
The popularity of energy drinks exploded in the last two decades and so did their caffeine content. Since the creation of Lipovitan-D by Taisho Pharmaceutical Co. in 1962 with its 50mg of caffeine to more recent products like ProSupps' Hyde Xtreme and its 400mg of caffeine, companies are increasingly flirting with the 400mg per day guidance of the FDA. Each year, brands release new caffeinated energy drinks, and many are competing to advertise the biggest boost, the most amount of caffeine. The chart below shows when ready-to-drink energy drinks of 500ml or less were launched on the market and their caffeine content per container.
Source: Caffeine Informer (caffeine content) and multiple sources (launch years)