March 20 (Bloomberg) -- Foster's Group Ltd., Australia's biggest liquor maker, will stop producing high alcohol and added energy pre-mixed spirit drinks.

A limit of two standard drinks, or 20 grams of alcohol, per single serve container will be imposed across the company's pre- mixed spirit range, Melbourne-based Foster's said in an e-mailed statement today. The company will also stop adding caffeine or taurine to drinks such as Cougar Volt.

The decision to drop brands such as Cougar XS bourbon and cola comes less than two weeks after Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced a crackdown on binge drinking with a A$53.5 million ($49 million) campaign to reform the way young Australians consumer liquor. Alcohol costs Asia's fifth-biggest economy A$15.3 billion annually in workplace absenteeism and health care and accounts for 40 percent of all police work, according to the Canberra-based Alcohol and Other Drugs Foundation.

``We have listened to stakeholder concern and we are taking these steps proactively and voluntarily,'' Jamie Odell, head of Foster's in Australia and the Asia Pacific, said in the statement. ``While these beverages have never been prominent in Foster's portfolio, we feel it is important to take this step.''

Rudd, who has a teenage son, wants to smash Australia's ``drinking culture.'' He's pledged to cut funding to sports clubs that abuse alcohol, launch programs to promote responsible drinking among teenagers and pay for a A$20 million national advertising blitz.

Following Rudd's initiative, Australian football, cricket, rugby and netball clubs said they'd adopt codes of conduct to moderate drinking. The nation's sporting stars will also appear in advertising campaigns warning against drinking to excess.

Australia ranked fifth behind Ireland, France, the United Kingdom and New Zealand for per capita consumption of alcohol, World Health Organization figures from 2005 show.

``We believe strongly that the real issue is not 'bad' products, but rather poor drinking behavior,'' Odell said. ``However, we also acknowledge community concern that higher alcohol and added energy drinks may be particularly vulnerable to abuse.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Robert Fenner in Melbourne rfenner@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: March 19, 2008 20:55 EDT