Beloved American Drinks That Are Actually Banned In Other Countries

It's safe to say that there is no shortage of drink selections in the United States. Whether you're dining out at a restaurant, hitting a vending machine or perusing the aisles, many options are available from juices to sodas and everything in between. However, you may not find the same options available when traveling outside of the country. This is because each country's government agency determines what food or drink is deemed safe for consumption. Many countries have banned fan favorite drinks for various reasons — the forefront being health concerns.

This may have you wondering, why are these drinks available in the United States? Differing views on health contribute, and in this case, specifically regarding food additives. The Food and Drug Administration operates under a classification system of "generally recognized as safe" or GRA for human and animal food. Meanwhile, other countries use different benchmarks to determine if food additives are "safe" or not — there are also issues like animal welfare. Read on to see if your favorite drink is banned in the country you're traveling to ahead of a trip.

PepsiCo's Mountain Dew is known for its bright green color, sugary citrus taste, and high caffeine content. Many soda lovers "Do the Dew" with the original Mountain Dew, but also they offer U.S. varieties that are lower in sugar, as well other flavors (Baja Blast, Livewire, and Code Red, to name a few). But what landed Mountain Dew on the banned list in Japan and the European Union was its use of a food additive called brominated vegetable oil, a vegetable oil that is modified with bromine. Experts say BVO had been used in beverages since the early 1900s as an emulsifier to keep ingredients from separating, particularly citrus oils. Stateside, beverage makers phased out of using BVO replacing with alternative ingredients in recent years, including PepsiCo with Mountain Dew. The United States is even getting on board with no-BVO, as FDA revoked its regulation in 2024 allowing BVO in food when studies conducted by the National Institutes of Health found potentially adverse health effects in humans.

While BVO is no longer in Mountain Dew, it should be noted that Mountain Dew does contain other food dyes like Yellow 5, as well as Calcium Disodium EDTA, which is banned in drinks in the U.K. after animal studies found adverse reproductive and developmental impacts. The BBC reports there have even been roundups to confiscate "illegal" American versions of banned items like Mountain Dew in the U.K. That all being said, Mountain Dew fans claim that you may be able to find some international Mountain Dew varieties.

When you think of sports drinks in the United States, you probably think of Gatorade. Developed by a team of University of Florida researchers in 1965, Gatorade has been synonymous with sports from its beginnings. To this day, coaches are doused with a cooler of Gatorade during Super Bowl win celebrations. But not everyone has historically been a fan of Gatorade.

Similarly to PepsiCo's soft drink issue, Gatorade was once banned in the European Union for brominated vegetable oil and additives. Like other drinks, PepsiCo removed the banned BVO ingredient from Gatorade in 2013. Now you may be able to find Gatorade in the EU, but with required warning labels. This is due to dyes like Yellow 5, Yellow 6 and Red 40, which have been linked to ADHD in children. However, it is reported that you won't find Gatorade in Austria. PepsiCo Northern Europe also doesn't list Gatorade as a product in Belgium, Luxembourg, or the Netherlands, but it is unclear if that is due to regulations or a choice by PepsiCo.

Milk is a staple in American diets (whether we absolutely need it to maintain healthy bones or not). But what many people may not realize is that a synthetic hormone called rBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone) or rBST (recombinant bovine somatotropin) was once widely found in milk from U.S. dairy farms. This synthetic hormone is used in cows to boost milk production and the use of it in dairy cattle is deemed by the FDA as safe. However, it is believed the hormone causes health issues in cows like infections. Though there are concerns of links to cancer, studies on the effects on humans were inconclusive. Whether that's true or not, the use of these synthetic hormones are banned in Canada and the European Union due to concerns of animal welfare.

Despite the use of rBST hormones in cows being deemed "safe," many people prefer dairy from cows not treated with synthetic hormones. There are plenty of rBST/rBGH-free options available in the U.S. that can be found labeled accordingly. It is not required for providers to label if rBST is used in its milk on its ingredients list, but many companies voluntarily label if it is rBST-free. Most processors use non-rBST treated milk now as a response to consumer demand.

The popularity of energy drinks transcends multiple generations from college students to working adults needing an extra boost. Energy drinks can include caffeine, a lot of sugar, and other "energy boosting" ingredients like B vitamins, ginseng, and taurine. A surge in popularity occurred in the younger populations, leading some countries like Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania to ban energy drink sales to those under the age of 18, at schools and in vending machines. Energy drinks are defined by containing more than 150 milligrams of caffeine per liter, or including taurine, but excludes natural substances. Though not required in an official capacity, many U.K. supermarkets voluntarily banned energy drink sales.

This isn't the first time energy drinks have been on the chopping block outside the U.S. The original formula of Red Bull was banned in France for nearly 12 years, only being brought back to shelves in 2008 due to a European Union regulation stating that products sold in other EU countries cannot be banned unless a health risk is proven. Whether energy drinks are allowed or not, officials warn of the dangers of consuming too much caffeine that in excess, can even lead to death.

Many people in the U.S. enjoy caffeinated alcoholic beverages for a boost of energy. You may even remember the spiked energy drinks of the 2000s (Four Loko was a popular one that now contains no caffeine) before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration outlawed them in the U.S. because of health risks. But in Canada, alcoholic drinks that have directly added caffeine are illegal. Officials note that it is allowed that there may be a very low amount of caffeine in alcoholic drinks from flavoring ingredients like guarana seed extract, coffee, and chocolate. Guarana is a fruit with seeds that contain four times the amount of caffeine compared to a coffee bean. Chocolate also naturally contains a small amount of caffeine, with the darker varieties boasting higher levels.

A relatively new trend on the U.S. scene is hard coffee products with lower caffeine levels, with many big brands offering their version of spiked coffee in certain states. While there aren't rules against mixing your own spiked caffeinated drinks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that at-home creations could have similar health risks as the now-banned premixed caffeinated alcohol products. Meanwhile, Health Canada requires caffeinated energy drinks to have warning labels stating that, "these products are not to be mixed with alcohol."

Artificial food dyes are a hot topic among many. Red Dye 40 is a commonly used dye in food and drinks to provide a bright, eye-catching red coloring. It can also be listed as Red 40, Red 40 Lake, and FD&C Red No. 40 on labels. Though it is approved by the FDA, some studies have linked Red Dye 40 to hyperactivity and ADHD in children. Popular drinks like Hawaiian Punch, Kool-Aid, Fanta, Jarritos, and Faygo include it in the United States.

However, Red Dye 40 is restricted in multiple countries like Denmark, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Austria, and Norway. The European Union as a whole has strict regulations requiring products with Red Dye 40 to contain warning labels about the attention effects on children. Though there is no Red Dye 40 ban in the U.S., red dye 3 has been banned effective July 15, 2027. California has taken measures into its own hands by banning a slew of dyes — Red 40, Yellow 5 and 6, Blue 1 and 2, and Green 3 — from its schools at the end of 2027. Other dyes banned in the United States include Green 1 and 2, Orange 1, 2, and B, Red, 1, 2, 4, and 32, Sudan 1, Violet 1, and Yellow 1, 2, 3, and 4. And if you want to know your food and products are free from artificial food coloring, shopping at Whole Foods Market, Trader Joe's, and Aldi may be safe bets. 

If you're one of the many that can't stomach black coffee, you may be out of luck trying to find your favorite coffee creamer outside of the U.S. Shelf-stable coffee creamers from big brands like Nestle's non-dairy powdered original Coffee Mate creamer lost their places on European shelves like Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Denmark, Norway, and Iceland after it was banned for trans fats. This was in part due to a 2021 EU manufacturer requirement setting a 2% legal limit to the amount of trans fats in processed foods. This is a slippery slope in the U.S., as manufacturers can say products are trans fat-free if the serving size contains under 0.5 grams of trans fat. With coffee creamer serving sizes typically at 1 tablespoon, coffee creamers can fall under that "trans fat-free" statement requirement (even if they technically aren't fully trans fat-free).

The culprit behind the trans fats typically lies within the use of hydrogenated oils, as well as partially hydrogenated soybean and cottonseed oils. Not all Coffee Mate products have these oils. Coffee Mate does offer trans-fat free products like its flavored and unflavored liquid creamer made with coconut oil.

If you're a Walmart shopper you have likely seen its Great Value generic brand. The Great Value line includes everything from pantry items to food and beverages. It can be found in Canada, Mexico, as well as some South American and Central American countries. However, you won't find some of its drink offerings due to bans on ingredients in Europe. Great Value Wild Strawberry Drink Mix contains titanium dioxide, an approved food additive across the globe in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom – with the exception of the European Union. The European Commission banned titanium dioxide in food after a 2021 study said researchers couldn't conclude it wasn't harmful to human DNA or cause chromosomal damage. It should also be noted that the Wild Strawberry includes other controversial food additives like Red 40, Yellow 5, and Blue 1. Some popular candy products do have a titanium dioxide-free version of snacks in Europe, so there may be alternatives available in the EU.

Another Great Value drink — the Orangette Orange Soda Pop — won't be stocked on European shelves, as it still lists brominated vegetable oil on its ingredient list. It appears the soda is out-of-stock on the Walmart website at publication time, so it is unclear if it is still manufactured and readily available stateside.

If you have ever had the chance to enjoy a Mexican Coke, you likely have noticed a difference between it and its American counterpart. This is because other Coke products outside of the States do not utilize high fructose corn syrup. Coca-Cola started using high fructose corn syrup in the 1980s as a sweetener. Since then, high fructose corn syrup has been linked to some health issues including obesity, increased appetite, issues with insulin, Type 2 diabetes, and higher blood pressure. The use of high fructose corn syrup would mean American Coke would be heavily regulated (not technically banned) in the European Union due to a production quota, not necessarily health concerns. The production quotas keep agricultural and economic development fair in EU territories. The EU produces less high fructose corn syrup than the U.S. according to a 2018 European Commission report, though exact consumption amounts are unclear.

However, there are other options for Coke products that don't include high fructose corn syrup. In the case of Mexican Coke, cane sugar is used as a sweetener instead. The United Kingdom version of Coke also uses sugar as a sweetener instead of corn syrup. Though you may be able to find other Coke varieties in the United States in restaurants, Coca-Cola doesn't ship beverages internationally to consumers itself.  But if you're looking to try a Coke product without high fructose corn syrup stateside, Diet Coke, Fanta Zero, and Sprite Zero don't list high fructose corn syrup on the ingredient list.