[Newsmaker] US’ cancer warning ruling for coffee draws mixed reactions in Korea

Following a Los Angeles judge’s ruling that coffee companies including Starbucks should carry a cancer warning label due to a chemical produced in the roasting process, leading coffee chains operating in South Korea remained cautious while civic activists called for alert. Consumers were mostly confused.

A local subsidiary of US coffeehouse chain Starbucks Coffee Korea said that the matter is impacting the entire US coffee industry, not just limited to Starbucks.

“We understand that around 90 coffeehouse chains are involved in the law suit and we are not a position to represent or state with regard to the issue,” a Starbucks Coffee Korea official told The Korea Herald. 

The Korean company also said that Starbucks in the US will take collective action with other coffee chains such as Dunkin’ Donuts to prove that the threat from acrylamide, a chemical compound produced in the roasting process, is insignificant. 

Korean health activists said such a ruling will eventually raise the alarm for local subsidiaries of global coffeehouse chains in Korea.

“Just two years ago, the International Agency for Research on Cancer downgraded their original 1991 classification of coffee from Group 2B -- possibly carcinogenic to humans -- to Group 3 which states ‘not classifiable as to carcinogenicity.’ Although they probably had a reason for that, it looks like the IARC may reassess the risk of developing cancer by drinking coffee, which will impact the global coffeehouse chain’s expansion here,” Choi Ye-yong, head of the Asian Citizen‘s Center for Environment and Health told The Korea Herald.

Coffee makes up a significant market in South Korea with Koreans drinking a total of 377 cups per person on average in 2016, according to government data. The size of the domestic coffee market reached 6.4 trillion won ($5.71 billion) as of 2016. 

Consumer reaction was divided.

An online commenter said “I think the US court is exaggerating the heath risk of coffee. If coffee contains carcinogen, I should have already died since I drink at least 3 cups of coffee due to work stress.” 

Another left a comment saying, “I could always see dark residue from a coffee roasting machine. Now I know that my coffee was made by just pouring water on burnt beans.”

Meanwhile, Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said it had nothing to comment about since the regulation regarding carcinogen produced during coffee roasting does not exist here nor is it under review at the moment. 

Earlier this month, the ministry ordered a recall on a packaged nuts product after a permissible level of a type of carcinogen aflatoxin was discovered. In January, the ministry also tested pollution level of another type of carcinogen benzopyrene over some 200 products of ready-to-eat lunch boxes sold at convenience stores, but confirmed that they were all at the safe level.

By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)