CA Coffee Labeling Requirement

Businesses in CA have to place warning labels on coffee sold in the state.

Based on a case file in 2010 by the Council for Education and Research a judge has ruled that coffee sold in California must have a cancer warning label according to California Proposition 65 — The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act.

The Act requires businesses that expose customers to a long list of chemicals to post warning labels notifying the public of the risk of exposure.

One of these chemicals is acrylamide--classified as a Group 2A carcinogen ("probably carcinogenic to humans") by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

It just so happens that acrylamide is created when coffee beans are roasted. Thus, the decision to require coffee to bear a cancer warning label.

California is going forward with this even though the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) concluded that it can no longer classify coffee as a “possible carcinogen.” In fact, they concluded that coffee may have protective powers against liver and endometrial cancer.

The penalty for not complying with the new law could result in fines of up to $2,500 per day.

The National Coffee Association is opposed to the new rule and is fighting to change it.

Sources:
Proposition 65
National Coffee Association
World Health Organization

By Wendy Stewart