Coffee cancer call slammed
Coffee in California will be given cigarette treatment if a non-profit organisation gets its way, and it’s ‘‘ridiculous’’, a New Zealand coffee drinker says.
The organisation has called for coffee to be labelled as having a cancer risk, because of hazardous chemical acrylamide lingering in the cup.
The suit came from the Council for Education and Research on Toxics (Cert), which claimed companies ignored a law requiring warning of hazardous chemicals. Acrylamide is produced in small amounts during the roasting process, and is also found in potato chips and french fries. Any food cooked over 120 degrees Celsius can contain traces.
Ina Stuff poll, 69 per cent of 1000 people say they do not believe there should be warning labels on their coffees, so we asked the experts.
The chemist
AUT chemistry professor Allan Blackman says acrylamide, ‘‘formed in, basically, cooking’’, is present in coffee.
‘‘What we’re talking about is tiny, tiny amounts. We’re talking in the parts per billion range,’’ Blackman says.
Varieites of coffee have differing concentrations however, depending on how it’s roasted.
‘‘They have found that instant coffee appears to be the major culprit. That’s got levels of 200 to 500 parts per billion, and that translates to around about .2 milligrams per kilogram, which is a pretty darn small amount.’’
The upper limit for human consumption, according to the US Food and Drink Administration, is .2 micrograms per kilogram of weight, per day.
‘‘Essentially, half a kilogram of coffee per day, which seems like an awful lot to me.’’
It is possible to purge acrylamide, but that would likely mean caffeine would be taken out too. ‘‘We’re talking such ridiculously low levels, that it seems at those levels it wouldn’t do harm.’’
The coffee lover
Adam Butchart, from New Plymouth, has been drinking coffee since high school and follows the trends and news around coffee.
Butchart drinks about two cups of black coffee per day, but doesn’t believe such small amounts will sway his swilling ways.
‘‘If they discovered coffee was as bad as smoking, then of course I would stop.’’
It’s like everything else in this world, he says.
‘‘You have enough of it, and sure enough you’ll get cancer.’’
He says he believes that if something like what’s happening in California were to happen in New Zealand, the public would think it was ‘‘ridiculous’’.
Coffee expert
Jessica Godfrey, development manager at New Zealand Specialty Coffee Association, says California’s hasty action may be futile in addressing potential side effects.
‘‘I think that the litigious nature of the States is perhaps not particularly useful.
‘‘Certainly when you read things about deals being done because people are scared about the amount of money that it will take.’’
It contradicts the World Health Organisation’s opinion that cancer is not caused by coffee, she says.
Godfrey says there should be more information, so negative effects could inform coffee roasting practice, rather than labelling a cup.
‘‘It seems that acrylamide is not present in substances in the raw form. If they are particularly starchy, the acrylamide get produced in the cooking process.’’
She says darker Italian-style roasts used to be popular, but medium-roasts surged into popularity.