Four Loko is a high alcohol, high caffeine drink that can be found in many convenience stores. Each fruit punch-flavored 23.5-ounce can has about 2.82 ounces of alcohol and about 156 milligrams of caffeine. Four states have banned Four Loko after dozens of students have been hospitalized after drinking the energy drink.
New York Sen. Charles Schumer's office is reporting that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is set to rule as early as today that the drink is unsafe and may be banned.
The makers of the drink, Chicago-based Phusion Projects announced it would reformulate its products to remove caffeine, guarana and taurine nationwide.
"Going forward, Phusion will produce only non-caffeinated versions of Four Loko," company co-founders Chris Hunter, Jeff Wright and Jaisen Freeman said in a joint statement.
The three said that the combination of alcohol and caffeine is safe.
"If it were unsafe, popular drinks like rum and colas or Irish coffees that have been consumed safely and responsibly for years would face the same scrutiny that our products have recently faced," they said.
The Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission, are expected to warn manufacturers that adding caffeine to alcoholic drinks is not safe and will caution them against marketing such beverages, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. said.
Doing so "will effectively ban products from the market," Schumer said.
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