A customer examine beverages at a supermarket in Ho Chi Minh City.

Red Bull made in Vietnam contains no cocaine, producers said after officials from Hong Kong and Taiwan claimed to have found traces of the drug in cans of the energy drink imported from Austria and Germany.

Earlier this week, the Center for Food Safety in Hong Kong said it found tiny amounts of the illegal drug in samples of “Red Bull Cola,” “Red Bull Sugar-free” and “Red Bull Energy Drink,” according to an AFP report. The beverages had been imported from Austria, said the spokesman cited by the news agency.

The news came days after officials from Taiwan confiscated nearly 18,000 cases of Red Bull imported from Austria after finding it contained traces of the drug.

The Austrian producers that had supplied the cans sold in Hong Kong and Taiwan have sent their product samples for testing and have yet to find any cocaine.

German producers that ship to Hong Kong and Taiwan have also sent product samples for testing.

According to Red Bull Vietnam Company, Red Bull Cola is made from natural ingredients, including coca leaves that have been extracted of all narcotic agents.

But Earsarkul said his company only produced Red Bull Energy Drink which is not made from coca leaves and thus cannot contain cocaine.

Claims refuted

Red Bull’s Asia Pacific marketing director, Daniel Beatty, denied the findings of cocaine in Red Bull products.

“It would have been absolutely impossible for the Hong Kong or any other authorities to have found traces of cocaine in Red Bull Energy Drink,” AFP cited him as saying in a statement.

Beatty said the firm’s representatives had already met with Taiwanese authorities.

Most supermarkets and department stores in Ho Chi Minh City only sell Red Bull Energy Drink made in Vietnam and Thailand.

The beverage is still selling at Big C supermarkets across the city as Red Bull Vietnam has guaranteed its safety, said Duong Thi Quynh Trang, foreign affairs director of the chain.

Representatives from Saigon Co.op Mart and Maximark supermarket chains in the city said the Red Bull on their shelves has not been imported from Europe like the cans in question.

All three supermarkets have promised to remove all Red Bull cans from their shelves if the beverage proves harmful to consumers’ health.

HCMC Health Department Chief inspector Nguyen Minh Hung told Thanh Nien Wednesday that samples of locally-sold Red Bull Energy Drink and other canned drinks would be tested.

Red Bull gives you broken wings

Nguyen Thi Ngoc Thu from the Ho Chi Minh City Nutrition Center said that although Red Bull advertises that the drink “gives you wings,” it in fact provides consumers with little vigor.

The cans sold in Vietnam contain 15 percent sugar but each person should only consume up to 20 grams of sugar a day, Thu said, advising people to drink one can of Red Bull a day at most.

She said the sugar makes people lose their appetite for more nourishing cooking.

“Overuse of the energy drink will only raise blood pressure.”

Dean Nguyen Thi Hoa of the Nutrition Faculty at Ho Chi Minh City Children’s Hospital No. 1 said the energy drink is not good for children as it lacks nutrition and prevents children from eating real food.

Red Bull was founded by Austrian toothpaste salesman Dietrich Mateschitz in the 1980s. It has since become one of the dominant energy drinks on the global market.

Reported by Quang Thuan – Thanh Tung