United States Supreme Court decides the United States v. Forty Barrels and Twenty Kegs of Coca-Cola, 241 U.S. 265 (1916). May 22, 1916.

On this day in 1916, the United States Supreme Court reversed a lower court in order to uphold the Federal Government's position in United States v. Forty Barrels and Twenty Kegs of Coca-Cola, 241 U.S. 265 (1916).

The Federal Government argued that it could require Coca Cola to reduce the amount of caffeine that it put into its signature beverage under the Food and Drugs Act of 1906 .  The U.S. Supreme Court agreed that it could.  Coca Cola thereafter voluntarily reduced the caffeine content of the drink.

That Coca Cola once contained cocaine is widely known.  That it once contained a greater amount of caffeine, and that the Federal Government sought fit to seek them to back down on it, is much less so.  Likewise, the concept that the Federal Government has only regulated such things relatively recently is clearly incorrect.