Four Loko Returns to Shelves, Minus One Ingredient

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Four Loko is back in Pennsylvania, minus the caffeine. But without the caffeine, the malt beverage may have lost some of its allure, according to one retail employee.

As reported in The Patriot News, stores are willing to make room on the shelf for the drink, which is made by Phusion Projects, but customer demand may be waning. "I personally haven't sold any," Charlie Swank, a cashier at Silver Spring Beverage in Silver Spring Township, told the newspaper. "It’s not taboo anymore, you know?"

Phusion Projects reformulated Four Loko, removing not only the caffeine but taurine and guarana as well, after the Food and Drug Administration warned last fall that adding caffeine to malt beverage is unsafe. That warning came after the fruit-flavored, high-alcohol and caffeine drink -- referred to by some as blackout in a can -- was linked to a series of incidents last year in which people were either hospitalized or died. The events even led to some stated banning Four Loko, according to The Patriot News.

But the change in Four Loko is not enough to win over every detractor. The malt beverage contains 12 percent alcohol, the equivalent of five beers. This has caused some colleges, like Lebanon Valley College, to continue its ban on the drink, according to the newspaper.

Over at Glenn Miller Beer & Soda Warehouse in Lemoyne, Pa., the new Four Loko sits among other high-alcohol drinks like Joose and Sparks in a small section of the store devoted to flavored beverages. However, Rodney Miller, president of the business, noted it has not been a big seller, possibly because the average beer drink doesn't have a taste for Four Loko's fruity flavors, the news outlet added.

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4 Loko, other drinks turned into ethanol in Va.

Truckloads of Four Loko and other alcohol-laced energy drinks are being recycled into ethanol and other products after federal authorities told manufacturers the beverages were dangerous and caused users to become "wide-awake drunk."

Wholesalers from Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland and other East Coast states started sending cases of the high-alcohol, caffeinated malt beverages to MXI Environmental Services in Virginia after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced a crackdown on the sale of such beverages in November.

Brian Potter, vice president of operations at MXI's facility in Abingdon, Va., said about a couple of hundred truckloads of the drinks would be coming to the plant. Each truck holds 2,000 cases of the 23.5-ounce cans.

MXI Enterprises is one of three facilities in the U.S. that recycle ethanol, according to the American Coalition for Ethanol, an industry group. Potter said Thursday that his competitors also are taking shipments of the drinks.

"We're equipped to process four truckloads a day, and we're at full capacity," he said. "There are about 30 different products involved, and we've only seen a couple of them at this point. It could go on for several months."

The FDA issued warning letters to four companies on Nov. 17 saying the beverages' combination of caffeine and alcohol can lead to a "wide-awake drunk." The agency called the caffeine an "unsafe food additive." Warning letters were sent to Phusion Projects, Charge Beverages Corp., New Century Brewing Co. and United Brands Company Inc.

FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said at the time that consuming the drinks has led to alcohol poisoning, car accidents and assaults.

Health experts have raised concerns that the caffeine can mask a person's perception of intoxication, leading them to drink more than they typically would before passing out. Many of those who consume the drinks are college-age and underage drinkers.

The four companies decided to pull their beverages from stores or reformulate them to remove caffeine or other stimulants after the FDA's ruling. Under pressure from states' attorneys general, Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors removed their Bud Extra, Tilt and Sparks drinks from the market two years ago.

In Virginia, wholesalers have been buying back the canned drinks from retailers to get them off the market, said Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control spokesman Philip Bogenberger.

In addition to accepting the drinks from wholesalers, MXI has a contract to take Phusion Projects' discontinued Four Loko beverages.

MXI distills the alcohol from the drinks, then sells the fuel to be blended into gasoline, Potter said. It sells the aluminum cans to a recycler. Potter estimated it takes "30 days until it's back on the shelf as another beer can." It also recycles the drinks' water, cardboard packaging and shipping pallets.

"These are actually things that could go directly into a landfill or incinerator or some other waste process that's not as environmentally friendly, so I think it's a good thing," he said.

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US says farewell to Four Loko

Alcopops, beverages containing both alcohol and caffeine, will no longer be available for purchase in the US after many reports emerged about students there becoming dangerously intoxicated on the drinks.

In New York, a small gathering of college students met to hold a vigil for the now banned beverages, specifically, Four Loco. Candles were held as they sang songs and reminisced about the loss of their “friend”.

As of Monday, Four Loko will not be available in its original form as a mix of both caffeine and a mixture of alcohol contained in a can. The demise of the drink stems from the direct orders of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Coming in at a whopping 12% alcohol, Four Loko is almost three times as potent as a normal beer, and one can of the fruity tasting, energy boosting drink contains a caffeine level equivalent to that of a large coffee from Starbucks.

Four Loko was believed by many to posses a fantastic taste, and when consumed, to make you feel great. However, others have a different opinion about the alcopop labeling it as a “blackout in a can”, which was responsible for many students finding themselves in the hospital after consuming the potent concoction.

The FDA’s principal deputy commissioner, Dr Joshua M Sharfstein, believed that the evidence put forward concerning alcohol and caffeine mixed together in beverages such as Four Loko, constituted a public health concern.

Four Loko will not be gone for good however. The beverage will still be available for purchase, minus the caffeine.

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Maker of Four Loko to stop shipments to NY state

The maker of a caffeinated alcoholic drink that has been banned in four states has agreed to stop shipments to New York state.

Gov. David Paterson and the State Liquor Authority announced the agreement Sunday with Chicago-based Phusion Projects, which makes the drink Four Loko, and with the state's largest beer distributors to stop selling caffeinated alcoholic beverages.

"New Yorkers deserve to know that the beverages they buy are safe for consumption," Paterson said.

The company agreed to stop shipping the drinks by Nov. 19. Distributors have until Dec. 10 to finish out their inventory.

The popular drinks have been banned in Washington, Michigan, Utah and Oklahoma.

Four Loko comes in several varieties, including fruit punch and blue raspberry. A 23.5-ounce can sells for about $2.50 and has an alcohol content of 12 percent, comparable to four beers, according to the company's website.

"This drink is too easy for teens to get and too dangerous for them to consume," said state Sen. Joel Klein in a statement. He announced on Sunday, along with the State Liquor Authority, that a minor working undercover for the police was illegally sold Four Loko at 11 of 28 stores in the Bronx on Nov. 9.

College students have been hospitalized after drinking the beverages, including in New Jersey, where one school banned them on campus.

Phusion also agreed to fund alcohol awareness programs as part of the agreement. In a statement, co-founder Jaisen Freeman said the company believes that mixing alcohol and caffeine is safe, but the company wanted "to be known for cooperation and collaboration, not controversy."

"We were the first company to take this voluntary step," he said. "And we think it shows that we are not turning a deaf ear to what's going on: that a select few have chosen to abuse our products, drink them while underage or break the law and sell them to minors."

New York's liquor regulators said there was insufficient evidence to show that the products were safe.

"We have an obligation to keep products that are potentially hazardous off the shelves, and there is simply not enough research to show that these products are safe," said Dennis Rosen, chairman of the state Liquor Authority, in a statement.

Steve Harris, president of the New York State Beer Wholesalers Association, said some of its members have agreed to stop selling the drinks and the association's executive committee is recommending that the entire membership follow suit.

"We are pleased to be a partner in the process of resolving the tangled issues that have surrounded these products," he said.

The federal Food and Drug Administration said in late 2009 that it had notified at least 30 manufacturers of caffeinated alcoholic drinks that they were reviewing the products' safety.

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