Supermarkets To Ask For ID For Energy Drinks

Dawn Ashley/Flickr

Ah to have the confidence of a teenager again; sauntering up to an unimpressed cashier with your basket of Smirnoff Ice.

Nowadays I love the occasional incident where I get ID’d. However, back in my zittier days I had to rely on adopting an expression of lofty, casual maturity to get past the checkout.

Surprisingly, this method never actually worked…

David Smith/Geograph

Now teens have another supermarket hurdle to face, with Aldi and Asda banning the sale of energy drinks to all those under the age of 16.

As of the beginning of March, those who look under 16 will have an ID handy if they want to purchase a drink containing over 150mg of caffeine per litre.

This is completely understandable when you consider the health risks of having too many energy drinks.

One 500ml can may well contain up to 160mg of caffeine – basically like having two shots of espresso – as well as a sickly 12 teaspoons of sugar. Not ideal consumption for those wanting a balanced, healthy lifestyle.

So what do you think – should energy drinks be banned in schools? https://t.co/mJjRaiOyvW

— This Morning (@thismorning) January 18, 2018

According to The Guardian, statistics show young people in the UK are the biggest consumers of energy drinks in Europe.

This is particularly worrying when noting the skyrocketing popularity of energy drinks, with sales of beverages such as Red Bull, Relentless and Monster Energy soaring by 185 per cent among UK customers.

This new crackdown has been praised by both healthy food campaigners and teachers, who believe energy drinks can lead to bad behaviour among young people while creating problems such as headaches and insomnia.

Chef and healthy food campaigner Jamie Oliver has expressed delight at the news, tweeting:

YEAASSSSSS @asda have done the right thing! Another big retailer stopping the sale of energy drinks to children!! Who’s next?

YEAASSSSSS @asda have done the right thing! Another big retailer stopping the sale of energy drinks to children!! Who's next? @sainsburys @Tesco @aldiUK @LidlUK #notforchildren RT

— Jamie Oliver (@jamieoliver) January 18, 2018

Kids should have plenty of energy at their age, why do they need this kind of drink? If they get a regular rainbow diet with little bits of calcium,protein,dairy,fruit veg which can be done even cheaply they don't need this marketing tripe to consume! Fresh air & balance is all!

— jane kleimunt (@janekleimunt) January 18, 2018

100% – kids when fed the right diet have plenty of energy, energy drinks have so much caffeine it makes their hearts and bodies work to hard x I think they should be banned all together

— sasha hale:Dori (@sassysashsash) January 18, 2018

This move follows a recent study from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada where researchers found an alarming 55% of 12 to 24-year-olds reported health concerns such as rapid heart rates and seizures.

Check out one teacher’s experiences of the harmful effects of energy drinks on young people below:

Aldi's managing director of corporate responsibility, Oliver King, has said:

We are introducing this age restriction in response to growing concern about the consumption of energy drinks among young people.

Asda’s chief customer officer, Andrew Murray, has made the following statement:

We take our responsibilities as a retailer seriously and work hard to ensure we get the balance right between offering choice and doing the right thing.

We have listened to our customers and want to take a leading position in this area to support parents and teachers in limiting young peoples’ access to high caffeine drinks.

Asda is the very first out of the 'big four' supermarkets to implement this ban. This huge step forward follows a ban imposed by Waitrose last month.

How exactly will this be policed? Maybe educating children in schools of the effects of drinking these awful drinks would help, bring back food tech in all year groups in schools where children learn about nutrition and balanced diet and how to make healthy choices would help!

— sarah mitas (@sarahmitas) January 18, 2018

Wow that's so great, great step Asda

— Jennie (@jennieloveslife) January 18, 2018

Aldi's ban will be actioned as of March 1, with Asda's ban being implemented on March 5.

It's good to see two such enormous companies taking responsibility for the effect their products can have on young people, reflecting genuine public concern for the welfare of the next generation.

Will more supermarkets now follow this excellent example?

from UNILAD https://www.unilad.co.uk/grub/supermarkets-to-ask-for-id-for-energy-drinks/
By Julia Banim January 19, 2018 at 04:42PM