CORONA, CALIF. — In the wake of a wrongful death suit filed Oct. 17 and news the Food and Drug Administration may be investigating a possible link between the consumption of energy drinks and the deaths of five people, the Monster Beverage Corp. said it will vigorously defend itself against any allegations of wrongdoing.
“Monster is saddened by the untimely passing of Anais Fournier, and its sympathies go out to her family,” the company said in a statement. “Monster does not believe that its products are in any way responsible for the death of Ms. Fournier and intends to vigorously defend the lawsuit.”
The company went on to point out that energy beverages have been sold around the world for the past 25 years, including more than 8 billion cans of Monster Energy globally since 2002.
Monster Beverage Corp. added that its beverages generally contain approximately 10 mg of caffeine from all sources per ounce. By comparison, the leading brands of coffee house brewed coffee contain on average more than 20 mg of caffeine per ounce.
“An entire 24-oz can of Monster Energy contains about 240 mg of caffeine from all sources, which is around 30% less than the average caffeine contained in a medium-sized, 16-oz cup of coffee house brewed coffee,” the company said.
With regards to the F.D.A. investigation, the company said, “Adverse event reports about a product do not mean that the reported event is caused by the product. The F.D.A. has made it clear that it has not established any causal link between Monster Energy drinks and the reports it has received.”
