Tiansi's Guangzhou Yaoneng Red Bull Fined 800,000 Yuan for Pantothenic Acid Non-Compliance, 203 Cans Recalled

Thai Tiansi's Guangzhou Yaoneng Energy Drink Co. , Ltd. has received a new administrative penalty. The Guangzhou Yuexiu District Market Supervision Administration imposed a fine of 800,000 yuan after the company's Red Bull Vitamin Taurine drink was found to have non-compliant pantothenic acid levels in multiple inspections across several regions.

Between September and October 2025, market supervision bureaus in Dongguan and Guangzhou (Guangdong) and Jingjiang (Jiangsu) detected that the product's pantothenic acid content did not meet the company's self-disclosed enterprise standard. Subsequent retests also failed. The product complies with the national food safety standard GB16740-2014 for health foods, which does not specify a required pantothenic acid level. Upon receiving the non-compliance reports, Tiansi initiated a recall, but only 203 cans from one batch were successfully retrieved; the other two batches could not be recalled.

Pantothenic acid, also known as vitamin B5, is a common ingredient in health foods and is involved in the metabolism of energy, fats, and proteins. In 2022 and 2023, several batches of the Red Bull Vitamin Taurine drink had already been flagged by market supervision authorities in Guangzhou and Puyang for failing to meet pantothenic acid standards.

The Guangzhou Yuexiu District Market Supervision Administration determined that in 2023, Yaoneng attributed the non-compliance to transportation and storage issues, failing to identify problems in the production process. This situation fell under the scope of Article 74 of the Implementation Regulations of the Food Safety Law, which covers refusal to cease operations or rectify violations, and would normally warrant a fine of 5 to 10 times the value of the products. However, in light of Yaoneng's claimed financial difficulties, corrective measures taken after the incident, and its proactive cooperation with the investigation, the fine was reduced to 800,000 yuan.

Currently, Tiansi sells two Red Bull products in China: Red Bull Vitamin Flavored Beverage and Red Bull Vitamin Taurine Beverage. The latter carries a "blue hat" health food certification and has become a key product in the market competition between Thai Tiansi and Huabin Red Bull. In 2025, Huabin FMCG reported revenue of 21.98 billion yuan, of which Red Bull sales accounted for approximately 21 billion yuan; Tiansi did not disclose specific figures.

In northern China, the Red Bull Vitamin Taurine Beverage is distributed by Yangyuan Beverage. In 2025, Yangyuan achieved revenue of 5.34 billion yuan, down 11.9% year-on-year, and net profit fell 26.8%. Walnut milk sales totaled 4.43 billion yuan, a decline of 17.6%, while sports drinks (including the agency-distributed Red Bull taurine product) generated 870 million yuan, a significant increase of 33.8%. Yangyuan Beverage said it was not yet aware of the matter and was still gathering information.