Coffee Acrylamide Testing and What the Draft Standard Covers
The National Health Commission has opened public comment on 19 national food safety standards, including a draft method for determining acrylamide in foods that adds coffee, tea, sugar, infant formula and infant complementary foods to its testing scope. It is the first time coffee falls inside the standard's coverage.
The move follows a December 2023 report by the Fujian Provincial Consumers' Council and the Fuzhou Consumers' Council, which tested 59 freshly made coffee products and found trace acrylamide, a Group 2A carcinogen, in all samples. Experts note acrylamide forms during high-temperature processing rather than being added, and levels in coffee are very low. Questions such as can instant coffee cause cancer and can coffee get you high reflect the same confusion about dose and effect.
The National Health Commission recently solicited public comments on 19 national food safety standards, among which the "Determination of Acrylamide in Foods" includes coffee in its testing scope for the first time, responding to the social debate sparked by the detection of acrylamide in freshly made and sold coffee. At the end of 2023, a report by the Fujian Provincial Consumers' Council made acrylamide in coffee a focal point. Experts pointed out that this substance is a byproduct of high-temperature processing, not an artificial additive, and that its content in coffee is extremely low, so there is no need for excessive concern about daily consumption. This revision of the national standard aims to improve the testing system, promote industry process improvements, and safeguard consumer rights.
On October 10, the National Health Commission's official website announced that, in accordance with the Food Safety Law and its implementing regulations, the National Food Safety Standards Review Committee had organized the drafting of 19 national food safety standards and amendment sheets (draft for comments), which are now open for public comment. These include the "National Food Safety Standard: Determination of Acrylamide in Foods" (draft for comments).
Compared with the current national standards, this draft for comments newly adds requirements for the determination of acrylamide in categories such as coffee, tea, sugar, infant formula foods, and infant complementary foods, aiming to cover the testing needs of all food types. Previously, news of the detection of the carcinogen acrylamide in coffee had once caused concern among some consumers.
In December 2023, the Fujian Provincial Consumers' Council, together with the Fuzhou Consumers' Council, released the "2023 Comparative Test Results Report on Freshly Made and Sold Coffee," which conducted comparative tests on 59 freshly made and sold coffee products available on the market. The results showed that all tested samples contained trace amounts of acrylamide, a Group 2A carcinogen. After the report was released, it quickly triggered widespread discussion in society, and the public engaged in heated debate over issues such as the carcinogenic risk of acrylamide in coffee and daily healthy intake levels.
At that time, China had not yet established restrictive or prohibitive regulations for acrylamide in coffee. In response to the detection of acrylamide in all tested coffees, brands such as Luckin Coffee, Starbucks, and Cotti Coffee all responded that their products comply with national safety standards.
The Fuzhou Consumers' Council also stated that it hoped to push relevant departments to formulate standards related to acrylamide, encourage enterprises to improve production processes and conditions, and take effective measures to reduce the formation of acrylamide in food as much as possible.
It is understood that animal experiments show that acrylamide has potential neurotoxicity, genotoxicity, and carcinogenicity. The International Agency for Research on Cancer under the World Health Organization classifies it as a Group 2A carcinogen, meaning there is sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in animals, but limited evidence of carcinogenicity in humans.
So why does acrylamide appear in coffee? Relevant experts explain that acrylamide is a chemical substance produced during high-temperature heating processes such as frying, deep-frying, and roasting. A certain amount of acrylamide may be generated when frying French fries, toasting bread, and roasting coffee beans. In other words, acrylamide in coffee is not artificially added, but a byproduct of the Maillard reaction during processing.
On the other hand, it is precisely because sugars and asparagine in raw coffee beans undergo the Maillard reaction at high temperatures that coffee is endowed with more than 800 aroma compounds, giving it its captivating aromatic flavor.
In this regard, industry insiders pointed out that although acrylamide belongs to Group 2A carcinogens, its content in coffee is extremely low, and usually a person would need to drink 12 kilograms of black coffee per day to exceed the tolerable intake.
"A 300 ml cup of black coffee contains about 0.45 micrograms of acrylamide, while the daily tolerable intake for adults is about 185 micrograms, so customers are fine as long as they do not drink about 400 cups of coffee a day," a Blue Mountain coffee brand manager said in an earlier interview with The Paper.
According to the drafting explanation of the "National Food Safety Standard: Determination of Acrylamide in Foods" (draft for comments), this revision newly adds the determination of acrylamide in coffee, tea, sugar, infant formula foods, and infant complementary foods to meet the testing needs for acrylamide in all foods.
Image source: Internet
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
