In short:

Health authorities involved in a crackdown on the sale of illegal energy drinks containing unsafe levels of caffeine in SA say they are attempting to tackle the problem at its source.

Hundreds of cans have so far been seized and two businesses fined since the so-called "blitz" was launched last year.

What's next?

The government says it wants to coordinate its efforts with those of interstate and federal authorities to prevent the drinks from entering the country.

Hundreds of energy drinks have been seized and two businesses fined in a crackdown in South Australia on products that breach caffeine safety limits.

The campaign to remove unsafe energy drinks from sale in SA was announced last year in the lead-up to school exams, amid concerns about the widespread availability of cans containing excessive amounts of caffeine.

SA Health said it was now also taking steps to disrupt supply chains, and prevent shipments of the drinks from entering the country, by passing on information obtained from local investigations to federal authorities.

The government said more than 700 drinks had been seized during the crackdown, and 100 stores including "a number of convenience stores" were inspected.

Of those, 18 outlets were identified as selling "non-compliant" drinks in recent months while 13 were sent official warning letters.

Fines totalling $3,000 were issued to two businesses that continued to stock the drinks even after they were told to stop.

"We had two businesses identified as being non-compliant on follow-up inspections, and those businesses were issued with expiation notices," acting chief public health officer Chris Lease said.

Dr Lease said one SA business was also acting as a supplier of the drinks.

"An important way to deal with these illegal products is to intercept the supply change, so we did identify suppliers in other states and those suppliers were referred to authorities in those jurisdictions," he said.

While Food Standards Australia New Zealand has capped the permissible caffeine content of energy drinks at 320 milligrams per litre, the SA government said that some drinks detected in shops and on shelves during the so-called "blitz" contained almost twice that amount — "equivalent to nine cans of Coca-Cola or three shots of coffee".

"We've been working with federal counterparts to make sure there are barriers … to stop these drinks coming into the country," Health Minister Chris Picton said.

"These drinks were brought into the country and put on the shelves in some stores where people have got around the rules that were in place.

"You just have to look at many of these drinks here to see that they are targeted directly at kids — they've got cartoon characters, they've got video game characters [on them]."

Government warns of possible prosecutions

UniSA dietitian Evangeline Mantzioris said drinks with very high caffeine levels could be harmful for children, but also for women who are pregnant or are breastfeeding.

"Those who are under 18 have limited ability to break down caffeine in the body," she said.

"Caffeine stays in the body for longer periods of time, therefore heightening the risk of heart problems, also increasing the risk of anxiety, increasing insomnia.

"But there's also another group that this is problematic for and that's pregnant and breastfeeding women — caffeine does go through the placenta barrier and it does go into the foetus's blood supply, and of course the young unborn child has even less ability to break down the caffeine."

Mr Picton said not all energy drinks were in breach of national standards, and the government had preferred to adopt an "educative" approach with retailers.

"Some of those [businesses] genuinely didn't know the issues," he said.

"But those retailers are on notice that there's also much higher levels of penalties that could be issued against businesses if we decided to prosecute, under the Food Act, and that's still an option if we see people continuing to reoffend." 

Mr Picton said he would raise the matter at a meeting of state food ministers on Thursday.