Asda and Aldi supermarkets join high-caffeine energy drinks ban

Asda and Aldi have joined Waitrose in banning the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under 16.

The move comes following The Courier’s successful “Can It” campaign, which encouraged schools to ban the drinks from their premises.

Asda is the first of the “big four” supermarkets to announce an age restriction, which will apply to 84 products from March 5.

Aldi has also announced that customers buying soft drinks containing more than 150mg of caffeine per litre from any of its UK or Ireland stores will be asked to prove their age from March 1.

Oliver King, managing director of corporate responsibility at Aldi, said: “We are introducing this age restriction in response to growing concern about the consumption of energy drinks among young people.”

Andrew Murray, Asda’s chief customer officer, said: “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.”

Earlier this month Waitrose said customers buying drinks containing more than 150mg of caffeine per litre would be asked to prove they are over 16 years of age from March 5.

The move follows calls by campaigners for a complete ban on the sale of energy drinks to children following findings that their sugar and caffeine content remains high despite reformulation ahead of the soft drinks levy.

Kawther Hashem, nutritionist at campaign group Action on Sugar (AoS) at Queen Mary University of London, said: “We are delighted to see that Asda has followed Waitrose’s lead with its ban on energy drinks and hope all the other big retailers will comply.”