Strange drink: Map seizes 4.2 tons of material used to adulterate coffee

The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (Mapa) conducted an inspection at a coffee roasting facility in Brusque, Santa Catarina, and identified the irregular use of coffee husks to replace part of the beans, a prohibited practice characterized as fraud against the consumer. The husk, also called coffee pulp, is a byproduct of processing and cannot be mixed with the production of roasted and ground coffee. In this regard, its use requires strict control due to the risk of contamination by mycotoxins, such as Ochratoxin A, in addition to the possibility of the presence of impurities such as dirt, sand, stones, and chemical residues, which poses a risk to public health. During the action, federal livestock inspectors seized 4.2 tons of the material that were being improperly used in the production process. Previous analysis detected impurities above the allowed limit in a batch from the target company—whose name was not disclosed—which motivated the operation. Subsequently, new ...