
Coffee roasters' health at risk from chemical compound, air samples suggest - jdnier
http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/coffee-roasters-health-at-risk-from-chemical-compound-air-samples-suggest-b99505149z1-308183961.html
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ScottWhigham
_Tests at two midsized Wisconsin roasteries that agreed to let the news
organization analyze the air in their production areas found diacetyl levels
from unflavored roasted coffee that exceeded safety standards proposed by the
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention._

Why, why would these commercial roasters allow a "news organization" to
analyze the air? Maybe you allow - _maybe_ \- a scientific-based organization
to do the testing but a news organization has an agenda. Full stop.

"Boss, can I go analyze the air down at Big Coffee Roaster's facility?"

"What for?"

"I read this comment on reddit about diactyl - it's supposedly really bad and
most people don't know about it. I bet it's all over that facility and they
don't know it."

"This could be huge - make sure you bring back something good..."

~~~
baldeagle
From the article, it sounds like the news organization offered to pay for an
industrial hygienist, associated with the local university, to conduct the
study. The human interest side of the story discusses how the founders of one
Roaster were interested in the well being of Mexican coffee farmers, which
could imply that they would be interested in the well being of their own
employees as well. This is further confirmed by that Roaster working with
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to prevent the high
exposure levels found in the news agency study. Also, there were some papers
published implying that the levels would be high, so if the news agency did
their homework they could be chasing down a likely lead instead of just
randomly looking to cause trouble. It sounds a lot like asbestosis, which is a
horrible way to go; raising the public and industrial knowledge about a
preventable cause is doing humane good.

~~~
ScottWhigham
_The human interest side of the story discusses how the founders of one
Roaster were interested in the well being of Mexican coffee farmers_

Which is exactly how one would spin it so that the CEO of the roaster would
buy into it...

I know - cynical.

~~~
matt4077
I run a small organic food business on the side and I'd be happy if someone
offered me to test our products. We can't afford it and have to rely on our
suppliers.

That's especially true if, as it appears from the quote, the results would be
treated anonymously. And for these roasters the risk is even lower because the
danger is not to the consumer.

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userbinator
Yet another thing to put on those ridiculous warning signs?

[http://blog.eoproducts.com/wp-
content/uploads/2011/05/prop65...](http://blog.eoproducts.com/wp-
content/uploads/2011/05/prop651.jpg)

Curiously enough the Wiki page for diacetyl mentions lots of action against it
in the US, but basically nothing in the EU...

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diacetyl#European_Union_Regula...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diacetyl#European_Union_Regulation)

I wouldn't be surprised if tons of things you are accustomed to inhaling and
see nothing wrong with are _eventually_ bad for you in some way... as the
saying goes, "life is a fatal disease".

~~~
jinst8gmi
Maybe spend some time working with asbestos and see how your "life is a fatal
disease" philosophy works out for you.

------
jdnier
A follow-up article: CDC warns coffee workers of hazardous chemicals
[http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/cdc-
warns-c...](http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/cdc-warns-coffee-
workers-of-hazardous-chemicals-b99588225z1-330424931.html)

------
dzhiurgis
Asides this particular chemical compound, doesn't it seem obvious that
ingesting something charred, same like smoking or eating highly processed
foods is going to be bad for you?

It's almost like natures way is to work best on simplest ingredients (until it
isn't).

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aruggirello
I'm curious: does diacetyl form when boiling green coffee beans, too? Or is
this something related to roasting only.

~~~
jdnier
The article explains it's a product of fermentation, which is why it's also
present in beer and wine.

