Along with MMA, mayhem, roller derby, Japanese wrestling, strong espresso, Slurpees and heavy metal if there’s anything that keeps the staff here at SavSci World Headquarters in beautiful Portland, Oregon happy and productive its energy drinks. We’ve kind of moved on to the ‘harder stuff’ like No Fear and Monster, but we still give props to Red Bull who ‘trod the path’ on which the other energy drinks walk….er…would walk if they had legs.

So if you’re ever wondering why there’s not a top notch MMA/Mayhem website based in France this story should help explain it–it’s because they neuter energy drinks that are sold in the country! The epicurean staff here at SavSci loves wine and cheese, but that’s not going to keep you up all night to cover a 5 hour long MMA event from Japan:

I’ve gathered over time that France is extremely wary of letting in big name, globally available products. Apparently they don’t like Coca Cola, and now the Ministry of Health is giving Red Bull a hard time.

It’s only been recently that Red Bull was allowed to be sold in France at all. The energy drink maker had to remove taurine, because the health ministry claims that long term effects of the chemical are unknown. So now Red Bull is allowed in France, but it’s still on pretty shaky ground. This article in Flexnews makes it pretty clear that French health officials are looking for any excuse to ban sales of Red Bull.

Red Bull may get the boot from France @ Slashfood