FDA opinion Must coffee be labeled as a cancer risk?

Controversy over labeling: Coffee can cause cancer?

Do coffee drinkers have a higher risk of developing cancer? No, says a new World Health Organization study. Nevertheless, there is much discussion in the US about the caffeinated hot beverage. This is a labeling obligation.

The reason for the debate is a lawsuit in California, which deals with the question of whether coffee increases the risk of cancer. Now, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has interfered in the dispute. She opposed a derogation on coffee labeling requirements, in line with California authorities' view.

In the US, labeling of carcinogenic ingredients in food and beverages is mandatory. A consumer group had requested coffee companies to alert their customers to the chemical acrylamide, a carcinogen, which is produced by roasting coffee beans. A court in Los Angeles granted this petition in the spring.

Now in California, a public hearing is in progress, and on 30th August the state authorities will decide whether coffee should be granted a waiver.

The World Health Organization classifies coffee as non-carcinogenic on the basis of a study by its International Agency for Research on Cancer. The California government therefore wants to exempt the substances resulting from coffee roasting from the obligation to label.

This opinion was also followed by the FDA. Labeling would only mislead consumers, said the agency's director, Scott Gottlieb. "We made that decision because we carefully spotted the latest research on coffee and cancer and they do not support a cancer warning for coffee," he says. (Fs)