Carcinogens Detected in Coffee from 20 Chinese Companies Including Starbucks and Luckin

Potential Carcinogen 'Acrylamide' Detected
"Must Drink 12kg Daily to Cause Cancer... No Need to Worry"

It has been reported that carcinogens were detected in coffee from 20 major companies sold in China, including the global coffee chain Starbucks and the native Chinese coffee brand Luckin (瑞幸).

According to local media such as Xinhua News Agency on the 9th, the Fujian Consumer Rights Protection Committee and the Fuzhou Consumer Rights Protection Committee recently jointly conducted a sample survey of the ingredients of 59 coffee products sold online and offline by 20 coffee shops in the Fuzhou area.

As a result, acrylamide, a carcinogen, was found in all of their coffees. The Consumer Rights Protection Committee stated, “Acrylamide was detected in all coffee products surveyed, including well-known brands such as Starbucks, Luckin, and Coty Coffee, ranging from 11.1 to 30.4 μg (micrograms; 1 μg is one-millionth of a gram) per kilogram.”

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The product with the highest amount of acrylamide was the Americano black coffee sold by Moke (陌刻) Coffee, with 30.4 μg per kilogram detected. The acrylamide content in Luckin’s sugar-free Americano was 24.7 μg per kilogram, and Starbucks’ vanilla latte was confirmed to contain 13.8 μg.

Acrylamide, an organic compound, is used as a coagulant for pollutants in wastewater treatment facilities, as a coating agent for paper cups and straws, and is also found in some foods such as fried and barbecued items. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), under the World Health Organization (WHO), classifies acrylamide as a Group 2A probable human carcinogen. While animal experiments have confirmed it as a cancer-causing substance, research results on humans have not yet been published, so it is classified as a potential carcinogen.

Xinhua News Agency reported, “According to research results, an adult would need to drink 12 kg of coffee daily to reach a carcinogenic dose, which is practically impossible. Therefore, there is no need to be overly concerned, but it is still good to regulate consumption appropriately.”

The Consumer Rights Protection Committee also advised, “Sensitive groups such as pregnant women and adolescents should avoid or reduce coffee consumption, and the general public should refrain from excessive long-term intake, recommending about 1 to 2 cups per day. It is also advisable not to exceed 65 degrees Celsius in the temperature of the water used to brew coffee.”

Meanwhile, according to a 2020 study by a research team at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, people who regularly drink coffee have a 15% lower risk of death within 20 years compared to those who drink occasionally or not at all.

The researchers conducted the study on about 508,000 Norwegian adults aged 20 to 79 and found that drinking 1 to 4 cups of drip coffee daily was associated with the lowest mortality risk. In particular, the risk of death from heart disease was reduced by 20% in women and 12% in men. In contrast, regular coffee other than drip coffee did not show this effect. In fact, drinking 9 or more cups of regular coffee daily increased the risk of death from heart disease by 9%.

The hand-drip extraction method using paper filters is known to remove lipid components made of fats. On the other hand, regular coffee has a high natural oil content, which raises blood cholesterol levels.

In fact, drip coffee was found to have about 1/30th the concentration of lipid-raising substances compared to regular coffee without paper filters.