Sharjah: Sharjah Municipality confirmed to Gulf News on Wednesday that it has banned the sale and mixing of energy drinks with other beverages at all restaurants and cafeterias in the emirate.
Dr Shaikha Rasha Al Qasimi, assistant director-general of public health and central laboratories, Sharjah Municipality, said the sale, display or mixing of energy drinks has been banned at all restaurants, cafeterias and outlets that sell juice.
“We got a notice a few days ago from the municipality not to stock or sell energy drinks,” an employee at a cafeteria in Al Ghuwair area told Gulf News.
Another cafeteria said a municipality official handed a similar notice to them recently. However, not all cafeterias have received such a notice.
“As a matter of practice, we don’t stock energy drinks. We sell only juice,” a worker of a restaurant in Rolla area said.
Energy drinks have high caffeine, sugar and taurine content — a mix that doctors recommend should be consumed in conservative amounts by healthy people. Energy drinks are not advised for young people or heart patients. There is also a resolution in place to restrict the sale of energy drinks to certain age groups.
A grocery employee said officials had earlier asked for energy drinks to be displayed separately from other drinks. “More recently an official said ‘remove them or be fined’. My shop is in an area popular with Arab youth, who are our main customers for energy drinks. It will be a loss for us,” he said on condition of anonymity.
However, a municipality official said that retail outlets like groceries and supermarket chains can continue to sell them.
The municipality said that the decision was based on a regulation of Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology (Esma) regarding the sales of energy drinks.
The offcial also warned against the use of artificial colours in foodstuffs “without accountability”, even if they are up to par with Esma standards.
