Korea mandates warnings labels for high-caffeine drinks

South Korea's government said Sunday that it plans to put warning labels on highly caffeinated beverages such as Coca-Cola and so-called energy drinks that may be harmful to pregnant women and children.

The Korea Food and Drug Administration said it has issued administrative notices for the mandatory measures that will require producers to label such drinks prominently.

Under the revision, all drinks that have caffeine concentrations exceeding 0.15 milligrams per milliliter must caution consumers on possible adverse effects. The warning must be placed on all bottles and cans.

In addition, drinks such as coffee that contain large quantities of caffeine will be required to specify concentration levels.

At present, coffee and tea products only need to point out that they contain high levels of caffeine, but in the future they must denote caffeine content in milligrams.

The KFDA said that the measures are an effort to protect some people who may be more susceptible to caffeine and to warn consumers not to ingest excessive amounts.

It stressed that despite the required warning labels, caffeine itself is harmless to most healthy adults. (Yonhap News)