Have you found PRIME Energy drinks on shelves in Canada? Well you shouldn’t have.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency issued a recall last week on several energy drink brands – including PRIME, 3D, Celsius, G Fuel, Sting and 5-Hour Energy – citing caffeine content (all drinks exceed the 180 mg per single serving can allowed by Canadian law) and a lack of bilingual English and French labeling.

And it’s not just Canadian authorities saying the products shouldn't be sold in the country, PRIME co-founder Logan Paul agrees. 

• The YouTuber took to social media to correct the record, stating in a video that PRIME Energy is not distributed in Canada, so any cans found up north would have to be illegal or unauthorized imports.
• However, it was mainstream media outlets that Paul took to task, criticizing headlines for uncritically reporting the recall without noting the drink is not officially sold in the country.
• Last week, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called for an FDA investigation into PRIME Energy’s marketing, alleging it “feverishly targets” kids. The brand responded by welcoming talks with the agency and asserting it does not market its energy line to children.
• Could it be… Fake News? In his video, Paul said the “level of misinformation currently being spread about PRIME is actually insane” and suggested the brand is being specifically targeted because its rapid growth has been so disruptive to both the sports and energy drink categories, advising consumers to "take every headline with a grain of salt."
• “It actually doesn’t surprise me that we’re being targeted by massive corporate conglomerates and the United States government,” he added. “Because, using social media, we’ve effectively created a beverage so disruptive that it is eating the market share of some of the biggest corps on the planet. And quite frankly, they’re pissed! We’re taking money out of their pocket!”

Last week, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) sough to pump the brakes on a report by another WHO committee, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), that dubbed artificial sweetener aspartame a “possible carcinogen,” and stood by its longstanding recommendation that a daily intake of 0–40 mg of aspartame per kilogram of body weight is safe. 

If that’s too many acronyms to keep up with in a newsletter, you can read the full story on NOSH.

In our weekly roundup of new product launches on Friday we highlighted new powdered hydration products from Nuun, a “euphoric” new cannabis beverage launch, Bubly’s latest Key Lime Pie flavor, and five other new summer beverage releases.

Check out the full gallery on BevNET.

BevNET and NOSH editorial is on the ground today at the IFT FIRST Annual Event & Expo, hosted by the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), taking place in Chicago from July 16-19. Stay tuned this week for coverage from the show floor.

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• Actor Danny Trejo launches a new non-alcoholic spirits brand, starting with a tequila alternative available online.