Acrylamide in Coffee: Levels and EFSA Benchmarks

What are the actual levels in coffee?

The legal yardstick is Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/2158, adopted on 20 November 2017 and in force from 11 December 2017, with its mitigation duties applying from 11 April 2018. It obliges food businesses to keep acrylamide as low as reasonably achievable and below the benchmark levels, which for the coffee family are:

• roasted coffee, whole bean or ground: 400 µg/kg
• instant (soluble) coffee: 850 µg/kg
• cereal-based coffee substitutes: 500 µg/kg
• chicory-based coffee substitutes: 4000 µg/kg

The Commission's implementation guidance is blunt about what these numbers are: performance indicators used to check that mitigation works, and a benchmark cannot by itself decide whether a product may be sold. Exceeding one means a producer has to look again at its process.

Measured values on well-made coffee often sit below the line. A 2022 paper in the International Journal of Food Science and Technology, covering high-quality arabica and robusta, found 148 to 300 µg/kg in light roasts, 159 to 230 µg/kg in medium roasts and 104 to 214 µg/kg in dark roasts.

Why does roasted coffee contain acrylamide at all?

Think of it as a by-product of the flavour. Above roughly 120 °C, asparagine in the bean meets reducing sugars, and the Maillard reaction that builds colour and aroma also releases a little acrylamide. Nothing is added, nothing is sprayed on, and green beans do not carry it.

It does not simply keep climbing. The level jumps in the early phase of roasting, peaks somewhere between a light and a medium roast, then falls again as the bean keeps browning, because acrylamide itself breaks down under heat. So a bean taken further often ends up with less than one pulled early.

What did EFSA and IARC conclude?

EFSA's scientific opinion on acrylamide in food (EFSA Journal 2015;13(6):4104) puts mean dietary exposure, across surveys and age groups, at 0.4 to 1.9 µg per kg of body weight per day, and 95th percentile exposure at 0.6 to 3.4 µg/kg per day. Fried potato products are generally the largest contributor, but the highest concentrations turn up in solid coffee substitutes, coffee and fried potato items, and for adults EFSA lists fried potato and coffee/coffee substitutes among the key sources.

On toxicology, the panel set reference points (BMDL10) of 0.17 mg/kg body weight per day for tumours in mice and 0.43 mg/kg per day for peripheral neuropathy in rats. Margins of exposure for the cancer endpoint, roughly 89 to 425 at average exposure depending on age group, fall far below the 10,000 that is usually read as low concern, hence the finding that dietary acrylamide may increase cancer risk at all ages. Effects on the nervous system, development and male reproduction were not considered a concern at current exposure.

IARC has classed acrylamide in Group 2A, probably carcinogenic to humans, since Monograph 60 in 1994, resting on sufficient animal evidence and inadequate human evidence. EFSA likewise describes the human studies as limited and inconsistent. One distinction matters: IARC placed coffee itself in Group 3, not classifiable as to carcinogenicity, in 2016.

What does that mean per cup?

Acrylamide dissolves readily in water, so most of what sits in the grounds ends up in the drink. Here is a deliberately pessimistic calculation of ours: 7 g of ground coffee sitting exactly at the 400 µg/kg benchmark (0.4 µg/g) gives at most 2.8 µg per cup. Three cups a day would be 8.4 µg, or 0.12 µg per kg for a 70 kg adult, against EFSA's total exposure range of 0.4 to 1.9 µg/kg per day from all foods combined.

Treat it as scale, not a verdict. Heavy drinkers, instant coffee or a batch with higher levels push the figure up, and the rest of the diet adds its own share.

Which moves the acrylamide number most: roast, species or format?

Roast degree. EFSA notes that lighter roasts generally contain more acrylamide than medium and dark ones, which are roasted for longer.

Species. In the study above, robusta green coffee held far more asparagine than arabica (about 366 mg/kg on average against 231 to 246 mg/kg) and produced higher acrylamide at comparable roast, averaging 230 to 300 µg/kg against 148 to 212 µg/kg. Specialty-grade lots, screened for defective beans, performed better, and honey-processed arabica gave the lowest readings in that sample.

Format. Instant coffee carries a benchmark more than double that of roasted coffee, and chicory substitutes sit at ten times the roasted figure. Each has its own manufacturing logic, so one category's benchmark says nothing about another's.

Should you change how you drink coffee?

No official document asks people to quit coffee. The European framework puts the burden on producers and their processes. If you still want to trim your exposure, the options are modest and happen to suit flavour: choose roasted ground coffee over instant, go easy on chicory substitutes, think twice about the very lightest roasts if you drink many cups, and remember that deep-fried and heavily browned foods contribute more to average exposure.

Keep the wider picture in view too. Observational research on coffee leans favourable for the liver, as our guide to coffee and liver health sets out. Acrylamide is one variable among many, not a ruling on your cup.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• EFSA CONTAM Panel, "Scientific Opinion on acrylamide in food", EFSA Journal 2015;13(6):4104.
• Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/2158 of 20 November 2017 establishing mitigation measures and benchmark levels for the reduction of the presence of acrylamide in food.
• European Commission, "Guidance on the implementation of Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/2158" (status of benchmark levels, application date).
• IARC Monographs volume 60 (1994), acrylamide, Group 2A; volume 116 (2016), coffee, Group 3.
• EFSA topic page "Acrylamide" (dietary sources, lighter roasts, human evidence).
• Study of acrylamide, precursors, origin, post-harvest processing and roast level in high-quality arabica and robusta coffee, International Journal of Food Science and Technology 57(12), 2022.