How Mycotoxin Testing Keeps Your Morning Coffee Safe

Mycotoxins are highly toxic secondary metabolites that are produced by fungi capable of causing severe health problems such as liver cancer to humans upon consumption. They are known carcinogens and legislation limits the maximum permissible levels in a variety of foodstuffs for both human and animal consumption.

One such foodstuff that mycotoxins are found within is coffee, with higher levels in decaffeinated and instant coffee. Mycotoxins naturally exist within coffee beans, but normally at levels safe to consume.

However, coffee can have significant mycotoxin levels specifically from poor hygienic conditions at the time of transportation and storage, exposures to high temperature and moisture content and experiencing heavy rains prior to harvest(1). It is therefore important to test coffee products for mycotoxins prior to sale.

Some studies have shown that roasting coffee beans reduces the mycotoxin concentration by as much as 96%(2); and that you would roughly have to consume 200 cups of coffee to exceed the daily recommended mycotoxin ingestion guidance from the WHO(3). So there is no need to worry about the consumption of mycotoxins from your coffee, as it will have been tested and approved as safe by skilled analysts performing mycotoxin testing.

There are many different mycotoxins found within foodstuffs not just coffee beans and at Minerva Scientific we have the capacity to analyse mycotoxins such as Aflatoxins M1, Aflatoxins B, Aflatoxins G, Ochratoxin A, Fumonisins, Tricothocenes, Zearalenone. Minerva Scientific holds UKAS accreditation in a variety of food testing methods including testing for mycotoxins.

Please get in touch with our Minerva Scientific – A Tentamus Company team via our contact form!

This article was written by one of our experts at Minerva Scientific – A Tentamus Company, Benjamin J Fryer PhD.

(1) Tola, M., & Kebede, B. (2016). Occurrence, importance and control of mycotoxins: A review. Cogent Food & Agriculture, 2(1). doi.org/10.1080/23311932.2016.1191103

(2) van der Stegen GH, Essens PJ, van der Lijn J. Effect of roasting conditions on reduction of ochratoxin a in coffee. J Agric Food Chem. 2001 Oct;49(10):4713-5. doi: 10.1021/jf0105586. PMID: 11600012.

(3) v. d. Stegen, G., Jörissen, U., Pittet, A., Saccon, M., Steiner, W., Vincenzi, M., … Schlatter, Chr. (1997). Screening of European coffee final products for occurrence of ochratoxin A (OTA). Food Additives & Contaminants, 14(3), 211–216. https://doi.org/10.1080/02652039709374518