WASHINGTON (TIP): Officials in the US have sparked controversy by approving a powdered alcohol that can be mixed into drinks, snorted or even sprinkled onto food.

Federal regulators last year briefly gave the green light to the makers of Palcohol before changing their decision, saying they should not have done so.

But this week, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau said issues that had been preventing the granting of approval had now been addressed. Spokesman Tom Hogue told the Associated Press that four varieties of Palcohol had been approved.

“The TTB approved Palcohol today….finally,” said a statement posted on the website of Lipsmark, the company that makes Palcohol “It is now legal to be sold in the United States. We will be working on getting the production facility up and running. It will take a while but hopefully it will be available this summer.” 

Individual US states can regulate the sale of alcohol and several have already announced plans to prevent the sale of Palcohol.

Concerns have included abuse of the product by young people, the potential to snort the powder and whether Palcohol’s portability and light weight would make it easy to sneak alcohol into public events or spike drinks.

Lipsmark’s website said Palcohol was the invention of Mark Phillips and that a patent was being sought.

And the reason he came up with the idea? 

“Mark is an active guy…hiking, biking, camping, kayaking. After hours of an activity, he sometimes wanted to relax and enjoy a refreshing adult beverage. But those activities, and many others, don’t lend themselves to lugging heavy bottles of wine, beer or spirits.