NEW
YORK, April 16, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- In
testimony to the California State Assembly Committee on Health, the
National Coffee Association today (April
16) detailed the safety and health benefits of decaffeinated
coffee and strongly opposed a last-minute shift that proposes
misleading warning labels after activists failed to support a
baseless proposed decaf ban.
In the final hours before the hearing, activist group and
sponsor of California Assembly
Bill 2066 the Clean Label Project abandoned the bill's proposed ban
on the most common type of decaffeinated coffee and instead lobbied
legislators to advance a last-minute amendment seeking misleading
warning labels.
NCA President and CEO Bill
Murray commented:
"There was no evidence to support the
proposed ban on European Method decaf, and there is equally no
evidence at all to justify this last-minute shift to seeking
misleading warning labels.
The bill's sponsors have clearly been forced
to acknowledge the scientific evidence of decaf's safety, and they
should not be allowed to now claim consumers should be warned about
health risks that do not exist.
The fact is that decades of independent
scientific evidence demonstrate that drinking European Method
decaf, like all coffee, is associated with reduced risk of multiple
cancers and chronic diseases. The World Health Organization, the
American Cancer Society, the American Institute for Cancer
Research, the World Cancer Research Fund, and California's own Office of Environmental
Health Hazard Assessment agree."
NCA has also detailed the evidence establishing the safety of
European Method decaf in comments to the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA), opposing a separate but related activist
petition seeking a federal decaf ban. NCA's comment to FDA is
available here.
Additional NCA resources: Everything you need to know about
caffeine, Get the facts about decaf, Coffee & health from head
to toe
About the National Coffee Association: The National
Coffee Association (NCA) USA, Inc.
is the leading trade association serving the U.S. coffee industry
through education, advocacy, and connection. NCA members represent
an estimated 90% of U.S. coffee commerce with small, medium, and
large companies, including growers, importers, exporters, traders,
brokers, freight forwarders, roasters, manufacturers, retailers,
and allied companies.
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SOURCE National Coffee Association