Coffee can contain 1% wood and stone, if it is harmful to your health – 09/28/2023 – Café na Prensa

Coffee sold in Brazil may contain up to 1% impurities, but legislation prohibits the intentional addition of foreign products, regardless of quantity.

The idea behind the standard is as follows: as it is an agricultural product that goes through an industrial process, it is possible that some tiny fragment may go unnoticed among the coffee beans.

Therefore, up to 1% of impurities are tolerated, which are, for example, pieces of coffee tree branches, coffee fruit peels and even fragments of stones, originating from the farm or store. These impurities, however, cannot pose risks to human health.

There is no tolerance, however, to the presence of elements foreign to the coffee cultivation and manufacturing process, such as corn grains, rye, sugar, açaí, barley or soy.

This is because, as they are elements that are not part of the production process, it is assumed that, if they are present in the coffee, it is because they were added intentionally.

Last week, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock announced that it had ordered some batches of coffee to be recalled for violating these purity standards (read more below).

This type of fraud was relatively common until the 1980s. Manufacturers added other grains in order to lower costs and increase profit margins.

Since the 1990s, however, inspection and analysis have improved. As a result, the coffees currently sold, especially those manufactured by large companies, have a much higher level of purity than in the past and are considered safe for consumption.

Abic (Brazilian Coffee Industry Association) itself carries out inspection work and reports it to the competent bodies whenever it finds something outside the standard.

The inspection works as follows: a person hired by Abic goes to supermarkets and buys coffees like any other consumer, anonymously.

Then, the coffees are decharacterized, that is, placed in packaging without brand or type identification, and sent to certified laboratories, which carry out a microscopic analysis of the product.

Under the microscope, if the technician finds impurities, they are collected and weighed to check whether they are within the established limit.

If a coffee is considered fraudulent – ​​that is, with foreign elements, which are prohibited at any level – or has more than 1% impurities, it loses the Abic purity seal, if it is from a brand associated with the entity.

Furthermore, Abic can report the fraud to the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, which will investigate the case. If fraud is proven, the industry will suffer the appropriate sanctions, and may even have all the coffee recalled from the market.

These standards and inspections were mainly responsible for the significant reduction in fraud in coffee sold in Brazil over the last three decades.

“Since the launch of the purity seal in 1989, Abic has been monitoring coffee sold in Brazil, collecting products from members and non-members, having carried out more than 170,000 analyses”, says Aline Marotti, the entity’s Quality coordinator.

At the beginning of this year, Ordinance No. 570 from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock came into force, which brings even more requirements for coffee sold in the country. The ordinance requires, for example, that brands display information on the labels such as the species used (arabica or camphor), roasting point, grinding level, etc.

MINISTRY ORDER TO COLLECT LOTS

Last Friday (22), the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock reported that it ordered the recall of eight batches of coffee after identifying foreign matter and impurities above the permitted limits.

The batches and brands targeted for determination were the following:

• Lot FAB08DEC22 at Fazenda Mineira;
• Lot 046/23/3D of Jardim;
• Lot 59 of Lumberjack Extra Strong;
• Lot 59 of Traditional Lumberjack;
• Lot 58 of Balaio;
• Lots 02 and 05 of Bico de Ouro;
• Lot 04 of Bico de Ouro 100% Pure Robusta

All brands were searched by Coffee in the Press.

Bico de Ouro reported that “it sells thousands of lots annually, and this issue is a micro fraction of what is sold annually”.

“Ordinance No. 570 came into force in 2023, and we are very pleased to have another regulatory instrument on the market. We are working with Mapa (Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock) to show our entire manufacturing and analysis process, following the best practices”, says the company in a note.

Salute, responsible for the Fazenda Mineira coffee, said that there was a temporary stoppage, between May and June this year, and that activities soon resumed “in compliance with the standards imposed by the health authorities”. It also states that “the marketing of the product continues normally and without any hindrance”.

The company also said that the suspension did not refer to Fazenda Mineira coffee and that the inspection concerns UBER UBA brand coffee, whose production has been discontinued. Finally, Salute states that it has signed a commitment with the Public Ministry, “which is in full and regular compliance, highlighting the presentation of certificates and quality reports for its products”.

The manufacturer Jardim was not located.

The others were contacted, but did not respond to the report’s questions.

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