Taurine, B-Vitamins and the Claims You Are Allowed to Make
The functional ingredients are the easy part of an energy drink. What you are permitted to say about them on pack is where most launches lose a month.
01Inclusion levels are capped
Taurine, glucuronolactone and inositol all carry maximum permitted levels in a caffeinated beverage. Exceeding them turns your product into something that needs a different approval route entirely.
Check the level against the finished product, not the premix.
02A vitamin claim needs a threshold
To say a product is a 'source of' a vitamin, it has to deliver a defined share of the RDA per serving. To say 'high in', a larger share. Below that, you may declare the content but not characterise it.
This is the most common label rejection, and it is entirely avoidable at formulation.
- Declare per serving AND per 100ml — both are expected
- Account for overage: vitamins degrade, and the claim must hold at end of life
- B12 and B6 are stable enough to plan around; B1 is not
03Overage is a shelf-life decision
If your label says 100% RDA, it has to be true on the last day of shelf life, not the first. That means dosing above the claim at fill and knowing your degradation curve.
Guessing the overage is how brands end up with a compliant batch and a non-compliant one from the same formula.