United States v. Forty Barrels and Twenty Kegs of Coca-Cola, 241 U.S. 265 (1916), was a federal suit under which the government unsuccessfully attempted to force the Coca-Cola Company to remove caffeine from its product.
Context
In 1906, Harvey Washington Wiley was the head of the United States Department of Agriculture Bureau of Chemistry when Congress passed the Pure Food and Drug Act. The Bureau started prosecuting companies which were selling products with harmful components and companies which were making misleading claims about their products. In 1903, Coca-Cola had already stopped using cocaine, transitioning to coca leaves devoid of traces of cocaine and had dropped the claim that it cured headaches. But to compensate, the company had increased the amount of caffeine, and Wiley believed that even small amounts of caffeine in beverages was harmful to people.[1] He was particularly worried that Coca-Cola was being consumed by children as young as 4 years old. So, in 1909, he ordered the seizure of 40 barrels and 20 kegs of a Coca-Cola shipment.
Claim
On March 13, 1911, the government initiated the case under the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act. It tried to force the Coca-Cola Company to remove caffeine from the Coca-Cola formula