Four manufacturers of alcoholic energy drinks popular among college students were issued with warning letters from the Food and Drug Administration, terming the caffeine added to their beverages as an unsafe food additive.

According to Margaret Humbug, the FDA Commissioner, evidence has shown that the consumption of drinks that have a combination of caffeine and alcohol leads to alcohol poisoning, car accidents and assaults.

The letters give a 15-day period for the companies to reply and explain their strategy on withdrawing their products from the market or defend their products as harmless.

These letters were issued in the wake of an increasing number of students being admitted to hospital as a result of consuming these beverages. Majority of those who consume the beverages are purported to be underage. The risk in these drinks is that they mask feelings of intoxication and result to reckless behavior.

So far, four states have outlawed the beverages, including Washington, Michigan, Utah and Oklahoma.

Phusion Projects, which is responsible for the popular Energy drink, ‘Four Loko’, has announced that it was working on reformulating its drinks with the aim to remove caffeine from them.

Although the FDA hails this as a positive step, it said that the company was yet to contact them with a timeline for the reformulation of ‘Four Loko’. The other manufacturing companies issued with letters are Charge Beverages Co., New Century Brewing Co. and United Brands Co.

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