One cup in five, according to the most recent estimates, contains traces of pesticides, an already very serious problem in itself, made worse by the fact that over half of those substances could not even be used in a European field, because they are prohibited by the Union which imports coffee grown elsewhere. To put it in black and white is Poison in Your Coffeea report signed by Coffee Watch together with Inkota Netzwerk, Deutsche Umwelthilfe and Pesticide Action Network UK, published in full in a document of over one hundred pages that crosses scientific literature, government data and field research conducted in Brazil, Vietnam, Kenya and Colombia.
One hundred and fifty-nine substances, six out of ten banned in Europe
Coffee, the authors explain, is among the most pesticide-intensive crops in the world: in Kenya, for example, it alone absorbs about a quarter of the national use of agrochemicals despite occupying less than 1% of the cultivated area, according to data collected by PAN Europe. In the main producing countries, researchers have listed 159 active ingredients approved for coffee cultivation. 59-60% is banned in the European Union because it is considered too dangerous, Etelle Higonnet, one of the authors of the report, told RFI in the interview published by the French broadcaster.
Among the substances mentioned appears the chlorpyrifoswhose use has no longer been authorized in the EU since January 2020 due to concerns related to the neurological development of children (the European Commission’s decision follows an assessment by EFSA which had failed to establish any safe exposure threshold). Then there is theimidacloprida neonicotinoid whose impact on pollinators has been documented for years, including toxicological studies collected by the US National Toxicology Program.
The double standard
The paradox that the report highlights concerns the industrial origin of these substances, many of which continue to be manufactured by companies based in the Union and exported to producing countries, where controls are more lax. Coffee grown with those active ingredients then legally enters Europe, as long as it respects the maximum residue limits. In 2020, the Commission promised, as part of the EU Strategy on Sustainable Chemicals, to “lead by example” by preventing the production for export of banned substances in the EU. Five years later that promise has still not translated into a binding legislative proposal.
On the residuals front, the most solid data comes from Double Standards, Double Riskthe report that PAN Europe constructed by analyzing the official samples collected by the Member States and transmitted to EFSA: 22.7% of the coffee samples contained pesticides banned in the EU, and the frequency of detection increased tenfold between 2011 and 2022. In the same period, coffee was among the products most reported by the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF), which from 2020 to 2024 recorded the pesticides as the most frequent risk associated with this supply chain.
Substances classified as dangerous, not just “residues”
Several molecules mentioned in the report fall into categories Ia (“extremely hazardous”) or Ib (“highly hazardous”) of the World Health Organization classification, and are at the same time classified as carcinogenic, toxic for reproduction or endocrine disruptors by the European CLP regulation on the classification and labeling of chemical substances. The report estimates that approximately 14% of pesticides used in coffee can be classified as probable or proven carcinogens, and that almost two-thirds may be toxic to reproduction.
The most delicate issue, for the authors of the report, is not so much the cup but who collects the coffee: in the Dominican Republic 87% of the producers interviewed declared that they do not wear gloves or masks during treatments, in India the same lack of protection concerns two out of three workers. Certifications do not solve the problem, because no scheme currently in use guarantees the absence of residues or a decent income for those who grow.
The promoting organizations ask for systematic controls on all imported coffee, the lowering of residue limits to the detectability threshold and a ban on European companies from producing substances already banned at home for export. For now, only recommendations remain.
