Coffee's cancer risk under scrutiny in Korea

The cancer risk of coffee has come under scrutiny in Korea. / AFP

By Jung Min-ho, Choi Ha-young

Korea's health authorities are scrutinizing the risk of a potentially cancer-causing chemical in coffee, following a Los Angeles judge's decision to require Starbucks and other coffee sellers in California to put cancer warnings on their products.

According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety Tuesday, the risk of acrylamide has come under scrutiny. The ministry is also doing research on how much of the chemical people have been exposed to in light of coffee consumption soaring in recent years.

“Our findings will be announced as early as the end of this year,” a ministry official told The Korea Times.

So far, the ministry has said the level of acrylamide from coffee is not harmful to people.

Acrylamide, which can be found in cigarette smoke and some foods such as French fries and black pepper, is a byproduct of roasting coffee. It is present in high levels in brewed coffee.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer, a branch of the World Health Organization, describes acrylamide as a human neurotoxin and a “group 2A probable carcinogen.” Studies on animals have found that exposure to high levels of acrylamide causes cancer.

However, there is little evidence that the chemical poses the same risk to humans.

Choi Do-ja, a Bareun Mirae Party lawmaker who belongs to the National Assembly's health and welfare committee, said she will keep an eye on the issue and, if necessary, raise it during the next parliamentary audit.

The ruling in California came after a nonprofit organization, the Council for Education and Research on Toxics, filed a lawsuit in 2010 against 91 coffee companies, including Starbucks, for failing to warn consumers of acrylamide.

The defendants have until April 10 (local time) to file objections to the decision.