The Australian Beverages Council have criticised the Adelaide City Council’s call for a ban on the sale of energy drinks in the city after 2am. Licenced operators including pubs and bars have strongly opposed the proposed plan which would ban the sale of shots or other high alcohol drinks after 2am. ‘
The South Australian Government’s Draft Late Night Trading Code of Practice has received wide spread condemnation for being too harsh however a submission by Adelaide City Council on the code claims it is not strict enough and should also include a restriction on the sale and supple of energy drinks, which have been recognised as a major contributor to late night binge drinking and the subsequent consequences such as alcohol fuelled violence.
The risk associated with energy drinks especially for alcohol drinkers is that energy drinks contain an exceptionally large amount of caffeine which means drinkers can stay awake longer and continue drinking even well beyond legal and safe limits, thereafter they begin to jeopardise their health and the present a risk to others if they become violent. A survey conducted this year showed that 10 per cent of people drank energy drinks on a night out.
www.TheShout.com.au reported on the issue:
Australian Beverages Council CEO Geoff Parker today responded that it is not mixers that are causing anti-social behaviour.
“The Lord Mayor and Council chief executive both know that consuming excessive amounts of alcohol – whether that be before people leave their home on a night out or in licensed venues, is the cause of late night problems in and around premises,” Parker said.
“Blaming a non-alcoholic mixer that contains only 80mg of caffeine in a standard 250ml can – which is the same as a cup of instant coffee – and comprises less than one per cent of overall bar sales in Australia is a step too far,” he said.
“It’s not the mixer that’s the problem and any assertion that such a small percentage of sales is causing problems is without grounds.”
Parker said research by leading global authorities like the UK Government’s Committee on Toxicology and the European Food Safety Authority have both recently concluded that the evidence does not support a harmful toxicological or behavioural interaction between caffeine and alcohol.
“Furthermore, a 2013 survey of over 1,200 Australians aged between 18-34 revealed that only 10 Per cent of people drink energy drinks on a night out,” he added.
The draft code was further criticised by restaurateurs who said they would be ridiculed if forced to use plastic drinkware after midnight. The draft code for pubs and clubs trading after 2am, published in October 2012, restricts licenced venues’ glassware use after midnight, requiring any drink to be served in tempered or polycarbonate container and all empty glassware to be cleared from public areas. This is because South Australian police reported that bottles and glasses are used as a weapon in two-thirds of assaults in Adelaide’s West End during 2011 and 2012.
Read more about the glassware issue at http://www.in-business.com.au/news/story/2013-4-19/15658