Central England Co-operative (Co-op) intends to implement a minimum age limit on the sale of energy drinks with more than 150mg of caffeine per litre.

The proposal was made following several communications with parents and teachers, who raised concerns about the growing number of young people consuming these products.

The move builds on existing industry labelling guidelines that require high-caffeine drinks to feature content warnings stating that they are not recommended to be consumed by children.

“This decision will ensure that strict guidelines are in place to prevent young people under the age of 16 buying these products.”

Co-op manager Hannah Gallimore said:  “We pride ourselves on being a responsible and ethical retailer based at the heart of our communities and after receiving feedback from teachers and parents we knew we had to act.

“This decision will ensure that strict guidelines are in place to prevent young people under the age of 16 buying these products in line with industry labelling guidelines.

“High-caffeine energy drinks carry advice stating that they should not be consumed by children, we hope that our decision to put this voluntary sales age limit in place will help address concerns associated with these drinks being consumed by under 16s.”

With 8,000 employees, the company works within food, funeral services and property investment sectors and has more than 400 trading outlets across 16 counties.