4Labelling and advertising
61.Our witnesses were concerned that the labelling of energy drinks was not clear enough for young consumers and their parents, both in terms of advisory notices about their suitability for children and information on their caffeine and sugar content. In this Chapter we look at the current rules and regulations relating to labelling and advertising of energy drinks and suggest areas for reform.
Advisory notices
62.EU Regulation 1169/2011 sets out requirements on the labelling of drinks with high caffeine content. From December 2014, drinks other than tea or coffee-related products containing more than 150 mg of caffeine per litre must be labelled with the words “High caffeine content. Not recommended for children or pregnant or breast-feeding women”.119 The label must appear “in the same field of vision as the name of the beverage”. The Jamie Oliver Food Foundation described these warning labels as being “in the small print” on energy drinks cans.120 Examples of the labelling on a selection of energy drinks are given in Figures 1–4 below.
Figure 1: Relentless packaging (500ml)
Figure 2: Red Bull packaging (250ml)
Figure 3: Monster Energy packaging (440ml)
Figure 4: Bolt (sold by Sainsbury’s) packaging (250ml)
As is clear from these labels the required warnings are often small and not “in the same field of vision as the name of the beverage”. Some of these warning messages stand out more than others—the ‘!’ symbol used on the Bolt can (Figure 4) appear, to us, to have a greater chance of drawing consumers to the warning, compared to the small print used on the other energy drink cans.
63.In addition to the standard EU labelling requirement, Energy Drinks Europe told us that their own code of practice for members also required that energy drinks included the statement “consume moderately” or a similar wording (such as “consume responsibly”) based on consumer understanding.121 This can be seen in Figures 1 to 3 on cans of Relentless, Monster Energy and Red Bull. However it is arguable that including the phrase “consume moderately” might weaken the message that these products are “not recommended for children”.
64.Despite the advice and warnings on energy drinks, a significant number of young people continue to consume these products. The Government’s 2018 Childhood Obesity Strategy, for example, notes that “research suggests that nearly 70% of UK adolescents (aged 10–17 years old) consume energy drinks, and that those who do so are drinking on average 50% more than the EU average for that age group”.122 Meanwhile, nearly a quarter of children aged 6–9 are energy drinks consumers.123
65.James Bielby, representing the Federation of Wholesale Distributors, argued that, since the products are “clearly labelled that they are not intended to be consumed by children”, the question of whether or not to consume them was simply “a decision to be made by their parents and the children themselves”.124 He conceded, however, that the fact that some children do nevertheless consume energy drinks meant that the labelling “could perhaps be clearer”.125
66.During our inquiry the Government launched its consultation on the sale of energy drinks to children, which included questions on whether changes to the labelling of energy drinks were needed.126 Andrew Taylor from the Advertising Standards Agency told us that the evidence of efficacy of warning labels on other products was “not that strong, as people do not pay attention to them and do not really do anything”. He suggested that warning labels could even have a counterproductive effect, “as they may make the product [seem] a bit more dangerous and rebellious, which appeals to certain strands of young people”.127 Anisa Ashraf, a student who told us that she regularly consumed energy drinks, summarised that “quite frankly teenagers do not care about the contents of energy drinks “, and that “children and teenagers are more fuelled to buy and consume something that they have been told not to”.128 Dr Lake, also acknowledged that banning energy drinks might “suddenly make energy drinks even more attractive, because people think, “This is banned. Let’s have it”?”.129
67.Annabel Gipp, representing the British Dietetic Association, argued that the energy drinks industry should take more responsibility for actively promoting the message that energy drinks were not suitable for children, in the same way that the gambling industry now promoted anti-gambling addiction messages:
I think of this when I see a gambling advert on the television, on a billboard or on social media platforms with the message “When the Fun Stops, Stop”. We do not seem to get that warning with any kind of energy drink. Yes, it says on the can that they are not suitable for children, but that message is not promoted. If it were made more prevalent and more obvious in advertising campaigns, it might start to raise awareness that these drinks are not suitable for children. Then parents might start to question their consumption as well.130
68.The British Soft Drinks Association told us that “we do not think that the best solution is necessarily simply to change a stipulated label on a can but to have a policy that would stop under-16s being able to buy [energy] drinks”.131 The pros and cons of banning the sale of energy drinks were discussed in Chapter 3.
69.Given that current labelling requirements arise from EU rules, we asked Steve Brine MP, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health, whether leaving the European Union could provide an opportunity to change the UK’s approach in this area. He told us that “if the consultation responses and other research suggest that making labelling clearer or more prominent would be beneficial, we will obviously look at the opportunities that taking back control would present for us to make labelling more effective”.132
70.Labelling of food and drinks should be designed to help the consumer make an informed choice. In the case of energy drinks, there are concerns that children and their parents do not fully understand what they are consuming. Despite statutory labelling on energy drinks that they are not recommended for children, a significant number of young people continue to consume these products, and some in excessive amounts. While there is a risk of glamorising the product in the minds of younger consumers from warning labels, increasing the prominence of the message could help parents to make informed choices about what they buy for their children. We believe that the evidence threshold for including more prominent advisory notices is lower than for prohibiting their sale. We therefore recommend that the Government should use the opportunity of leaving the EU to introduce, within 18 months of exit day, additional labelling requirements to ensure that advisory messages are more prominent on energy drinks packaging and not merely in ‘the small print’.
Communicating caffeine and sugar content: spoonfuls and cupfuls?
71.EU Regulation 1169/2011 also specifies that high-caffeine products must be labelled with the caffeine content in milligrams per 100 millilitres.133 Similar requirements exist for disclosure of sugar content as part of nutritional information.134
72.The prospect of using teaspoons to help communicate the sugar content of energy drinks was raised by the Department of Health and Social Care, in the context of a potential update to the voluntary ‘red/amber/green’ front-of-pack food labelling scheme135 introduced in 2013:
We want to […] ensure we are using the most effective ways to communicate information to families. This might include clearer visual labelling, such as teaspoons of sugar, to show consumers about the sugar content in packaged food and drink.136
73.Our witnesses agreed that there was a need for improved communication of the sugar and caffeine content of energy drinks, but they disagreed about how best this could be achieved. Dr Lake suggested that communicating sugar content in terms of spoonfuls of sugar, and caffeine with the equivalent number of cups of coffee, would be “really helpful”.137 Similarly, Dr Kevin Hargin from the Food Standards Agency agreed that providing information in terms of spoonfuls and cups of coffee equivalents could “put things into perspective, particularly for comparative purposes […] the average shopper would probably understand them better than milligrams”.138
74.In contrast, Jerome Scott argued that “the word teaspoon has crept into the sugar debate but has no place in an intelligent inquiry”,139 since it is “a historical cook’s measure for baking or cooking”.140 He advocated instead that it would be more meaningful to young people if standard metric units were used. Similar points could be made in relation to ‘cups of coffee’ as a measure of caffeine content, given that the content and size of a cup of coffee varies, and an individual’s conceptualisation of a cup of coffee could therefore differ.
75.It could be argued that the need to describe caffeine content in more informal terms (such as its equivalent number of ‘cups of coffee’, rather than milligrams per 100 millilitres) was greater than for sugar. This is because the caffeine content of coffee itself was not routinely labelled for comparison.141 Indeed, regardless of the caffeine content, the EU labelling directive does not apply to “beverages based on coffee, tea, or coffee or tea extract where the name under which the product is sold includes the term ‘coffee’ or ‘tea’”.142
76.Energy Drinks Europe argued that a lack of labelling of other products containing caffeine meant that it was difficult for consumers to keep track of their total caffeine intake per day. To address this, they recommended that all pre-packaged caffeine-containing foods should be required to disclose the caffeine content, and that coffee shops should provide menu board information on the approximate caffeine content per serving.143 Meanwhile, the Government is currently consulting on introducing legislation to mandate calorie labelling for products sold in restaurants, cafes, and takeaways in England,144 which could provide an opportunity to consider introducing requirements on caffeine content as well.
77.It is important that the sugar and caffeine content of energy drinks is clearly communicated to consumers. The Government should consult on whether introducing caffeine labelling requirements on all products containing caffeine (in milligrams per 100 millilitres) including average values per serving of tea and coffee in coffee shops, would help consumers make informed choices in relation to energy drinks as well.
119 Council Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, Annex 3
122 HM Government, Childhood obesity: a plan for action (Chapter 2), p15
123 Department of Health and Social Care, Consultation on proposal to end the sale of energy drinks to children, August 2018
126 Department of Health and Social Care, Consultation on proposal to end the sale of energy drinks to children, August 2018
135 Department of Health, Guide to creating a front of pack (FOP) nutrition label for pre-packaged products sold through retail outlets, updated November 2016
142 Council Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, Annex 2
144 HM Government, Childhood obesity: a plan for action (Chapter 2), p8; and Department of Health and Social Care, Consultation on mandating calorie labelling in the out-of-home sector, September 2018 . The consultation was launched on 14 September and closes on 7 December 2018.
Published: 4 December 2018