Coffee the next target

Stuff reports:

Coffee in California is going to be given cigarette treatment if a nonprofit organisation gets its way, and it’s “ridiculous”, a New Zealand expert 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 a warning of hazardous chemicals. Acrylamide is produced in small amounts during the coffee roasting process, and is also found in potato chips and French fries. Any food cooked over 120 degrees celsius can contain traces.

Nothing stops these people. First they’ll demand warning labels, then a tax on it. Then advertising restrictions. Then plain packaging.

Different types of coffee have varying concentrations however, depending on how it’s roasted or prepared. 

“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, he says. 

“You would have to be drinking essentially half a kilogram of coffee per day, which seems like an awful lot to me.”

It is possible to purge acrylamide from coffee, but that would likely mean coffee would be taken out too. 

“We’re talking such ridiculously low levels, that it seems at those levels it wouldn’t do harm.”

500 grams of coffee a day would mean around 50 cups a day!