Mycotoxins in green coffee beans

I saw an advertisement with a copy that said "Japan's only" coffee beans that are mold-free. I thought this was a very misleading expression, so I'm writing this down on my blog.

Writing this way makes people think that beans from other shops contain mycotoxins. We've been roasting a fair amount of beans since we opened, but we've never seen any beans that could be called moldy. There are quite a few beans that make you wonder "Is this moldy?", but we know that they are something else that looks like mold. (Like the ones that turn black from rice.)

This is because importers are required by the Food Sanitation Act to guarantee the safety of the food they import. If they accidentally import moldy beans, it would be a big problem.

As for mycotoxins, they are already thoroughly inspected by quarantine since they are imported as food. If any violations are found by these inspections, they will be published in the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare's violation case report .

It is quite difficult to find examples of coffee violations, but there have been cases in the past where roasted coffee beans contained additives that are not allowed in Japan.

In fiscal year 2024, a case was published in which aflatoxin, a mold toxin, was detected in raw almonds imported from the United States in April.

At least at the point of import, the risk of mold is considered to be almost negligible (since it has not been detected), but there is still a risk of mold on coffee beans. This is due to factors such as humidity during storage.
It is easy to imagine that if the bag is left in a place with drastic temperature changes for a long period of time, condensation will form inside the bag and mold will grow on any parts that come into contact with it.

Therefore, the advertising slogan "no mold" is simply stating the very obvious: "the product is stored properly."

As I was writing this, I found an interesting article. It was " Opinion on products called mold-free coffee beans " issued by the All Japan Coffee Fair Trade Council on July 25, 2019. Please see the link for more details, but I will quote points 1 and 4 from the article.

1. Coffee products sold in Japan undergo import food quarantine based on the Food Sanitation Act (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare), and are imported with no problems with residual pesticides or mold toxins (total aflatoxins) , so even if they are not labeled as "mold-free coffee beans," they are safe coffee.

4. A blog selling "mold-free coffee beans" states that "mold develops during transport by ship," but raw coffee beans that get wet or condense during sea transport are ordered to be discarded by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare's import food quarantine and cannot be sold domestically as coffee products.

Our store has tried to import tableware from overseas before, and here we learned about various inspections based on the Food Sanitation Act. Quarantine is really done very strictly. Since it concerns the lives of the people, we are confident that they are not doing anything carelessly.

Therefore, although we do not write that our beans are "free of mold toxins," they are still safe and secure , so we appreciate your continued patronage.