Red Bull has been launched on to the French market after a ten-year long legal battle in the country.

Dozens of Red Bull mini cars homed in on the Champs Elysees in central Paris this week to mark the official launch of Red Bull in the country. Cans of the drink were also handed out at Parisian colleges and schools. The French Food Safety Authority (Afssa) had previously banned the drink because of the presence of the amino acid taurine.

Red Bull said it has replaced taurine with a different amino acoid, Arginine. "The beneficial effects of Red Bull will be the same as in the billions of Red Bulls sold around the world every year," the company said in a statement.

It is believed to be the first time the company, started by Swiss businessman Dietrick Mateschitz in 1987, has agreed to change the recipe for Red Bull, which is also banned in some Scandinavian countries.