Do alcohol and caffeine mix? The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has ruled they do not. Last week, FDA officials stamped on the makers of pre-mixed caffeinated alcoholic drinks, saying the products are "adulterated" by the addition of caffeine, which it said in this context was an "unsafe food additive".rnThe FDA's target was drinks such as Four Loko, a can of which packs the punch of a bottle of wine and two or three cups of coffee and may sell for less than US$3. The food regulator, prompted by a wave of publicity for incidents in which young people were made seriously ill after over-indulging in the drinks, says manufacturers of Four Loko and six other caffeinated alcoholic drinks must remove the caffeine from their products, or their products from store shelves - or risk having them seized. Even before the decision was announced, Four Loko's maker, a small company called Phusion Projects in Chicago, Illinois, had agreed to remove the caffeine from its popular flagship product.
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