‘Red Bull Gives you Wiings’: Patrolling the Boundaries of Drug Foods

Abstract

Drug foods are part of every food culture, so Sidney Mintz has argued, and the energy drink, Red Bull, might be understood as one of our latest drug foods. Drug foods pose a challenge from a regulatory point of view for they bring into focus two of the great food debates - the impact of food regulation on food innovation and the role of food regulators in regard to public health. In so far as drug foods have traditionally formed a part of every diet, any attempt to ban or limit new or novel drug foods opens the food regulator to 'endless charges of hypocrisy and irrationality', 'paternalistic' behaviour and standing in the way of food innovation. On the other hand, if the food regulator does allow new drug foods to be manufactured and sold it is accused of failing in its duty to protect public health or of being 'amoral' in this regard.