Charles Murray, the CEO of Shotpak Inc and the one behind Gravity Vodka, spoke out today about the letter he received from the FDA. The Administration has sent letters to about 30 companies, looking to see if it is safe for caffeine can be added to alcoholic drinks. Mr. Murray stated that he has "little doubt that Gravity is safe and complies with all government requirements necessary for its sale in the future." He goes on to state that their "50ml StandUp pouch has the caffeine equivalent of about half a cup of coffee or about 1/3 of what is allowed."
So what, exactly is allowed? "Today the FDA has listed caffeine only as an ingredient for use in soft drinks," said Deputy Commissioner Dr. Joshua Sharfstein."The agency has not approved caffeine for use in alcoholic beverages." The FDA does, however, advise the The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), the governmental agency in charge of compliance for formulas, labels, and advertisements for alcoholic beverages. This implies that since the TTB is charged with keeping the formula of alcohol compliant with the FDA's rulings, that the FDA has already ruled that caffeine in alcohol was GRAS, or Generally Recognized as Safe. IF the FDA had any issues with caffeine in alcohol, TTB would, or should have been notified.
According to Wine and Spirits Daily, "The TTB isn’t too happy about the FDA stepping into their territory. Traditionally the FDA governs food and non-alcoholic beverages, while the TTB oversees beverage alcohol. The FDA says it has jurisdiction because the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act gives it authority over "articles used for food or drink" and "thus includes alcoholic beverages.”
The ruling by the FDA about caffeine in general can get confusing. For sodas and soft drinks, a product may contain a maximum of .02% caffeine while still being considered safe. For a 12 oz beverage, .02% works out to 68mg. But, that 68 does not include any "natural" caffeine levels, so guarana, yerba mate and coffee-based drinks might be able to contain more. Also, some drinks are labeled as “dietary supplements,” which have lower restrictions.
Basically, the FDA itself states that 68mg of added caffeine in any 12 ounce cola-beverage is GRAS. Because of this GRAS status, food processors are not required to prove caffeine's safety. Instead, caffeine's long and widespread safety considered sufficient proof of safety.
"There are some unusual safety questions raised by the addition of caffeine to these alcoholic beverages," said FDA special adviser Mike Taylor. These safety questions revolve around the lawsuits made earlier this year by a cadre of state's attorney's generals and The Center for Science in the Public Interest. This was the same group who successfully sued Budweiser and Coors for hundreds of thousands of dollars, arguing that adding caffeine to alcohol causes violent behavior, more drunk driving, and will increase underage drinking.
The brewmaster in charge of brewing Mobius Lager, a beer with caffeine, taurine and ginseng called this latest FDA action bureaucratic and ridiculous, and stated that "so little of that stuff that even goes into the product," and it's much less than the amount the FDA classified as GRAS for sodas. While they are forming a response to the FDA, he did mention that the they were certified with the TTB. As a matter of fact, that is true for all the products on the FDA hit list.
What is interesting about this list from the FDA is what drinks they are not targeting. Higher-end vodkas, coffee liquors with caffeine and coffee beers are nowhere to be found. The Media Transcript from the FDA made clear they were targeting younger drinkers, as well as lower-priced alcohol products. While popular liquers Starbucks and Kahlua are caffeinated (Kahlua has approximately 4.85 mg in each 1.5 oz drink and one ounce of Starbucks Coffee Liqueur has approximately 34 mg. of caffeine) these drinks did not make the FDA questionable products list. However, drinks like Wide Awake Liquer and Smirnoff Raw Tea were called into question.
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