Coffee Powder | whatsinit

About

What it is and where it shows up.

Coffee powder is produced from the roasted and ground (or spray/freeze-dried) beans of Coffea arabica or Coffea canephora (robusta) and is used as a beverage base and as a flavouring ingredient in baked goods, confectionery, ice creams, and other food products. Its characteristic taste, aroma, and stimulant properties derive from caffeine, chlorogenic acids, and hundreds of volatile aromatic compounds formed during roasting.

Safety summary

The regulatory and scientific consensus.

Coffee powder is broadly safe for healthy adults at moderate intake; EFSA's 2015 Scientific Opinion concludes that single caffeine doses up to 200 mg and habitual intake up to 400 mg/day from all sources do not raise safety concerns for healthy adults. Pregnant women are advised to limit total caffeine (including from coffee) to ≤200 mg/day due to risks to foetal health, and children and breastfeeding women are also identified as sensitive subgroups. In 2016 IARC reclassified coffee to Group 3 (not classifiable as to its carcinogenicity), removing the earlier Group 2B designation, though very hot beverages (>65 °C) were separately listed as Group 2A.

Regulatory landscape

What food-safety regulators have decided.

Jurisdiction	Status	Note
EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) (European Union)	Approved	Coffee is an approved traditional food ingredient in the EU with no novel-food restrictions. The 400 mg/day figure refers to total caffeine from all dietary sources for healthy adults, as established by EFSA NDA Panel (2015); for pregnant/breastfeeding women the threshold is 200 mg/day. Under EU Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, beverages containing >150 mg/L caffeine must carry a high-caffeine-content label warning and the statement 'Not recommended for children or pregnant or breastfeeding women.'source
Food Standards Agency (FSA) / Food Standards Scotland (FSS) (United Kingdom)	Approved	UK FSA guidance aligns with EFSA's 2015 caffeine opinion: single servings no more than 200 mg and total daily intake no more than 400 mg recommended. There is no maximum legal limit for caffeine when used in food supplements, but maximum permitted limits apply under food legislation for specific categories.source
FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) (India)	Approved	Regulated under FSS (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations 2011, Regulation 2.10.2. Compositional standards cover green/unroasted coffee, roasted and ground coffee, instant coffee, and decaffeinated coffee. A 2021 FSSAI compliance directive specifies that Coffee-Chicory mixtures must contain not less than 51% coffee by mass and must declare the percentage of each on-pack.source

Who should approach with care

Whose guidance would steer them away.

Pregnancy — EFSA (2015) recommends that pregnant women limit total caffeine from all sources to ≤200 mg/day; the European Commission specifically cited risks to foetal health as a driver for EFSA's caffeine assessment.

Lactation — EFSA's 2015 caffeine opinion includes breastfeeding women in the sensitive subgroup for which reduced caffeine intake is recommended, as caffeine is transferred into breast milk.

Infants — Caffeine-containing beverages including coffee are not appropriate for infants due to immature caffeine metabolism and stimulant effects on the developing nervous and cardiovascular systems.

Children — EU Regulation 1169/2011 stipulates that beverages with >150 mg/L caffeine are 'not recommended for children,' and EFSA explicitly identifies children as a sensitive subgroup requiring lower caffeine exposure limits.

Hypertension — EFSA's cited literature notes that greater coffee intake in men is associated with steeper age-related increases in blood pressure, warranting caution in individuals with existing hypertension.

Research citations

The sources behind this verdict.

1FDA. Enhancing the Regulatory Decision-Making Approval Process for Direct Food Ingredient Technologies — Legal Aspects of the Food Additive Approval Process. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
2FSSAI. Compliance with Respect to Coffee-Chicory Mixtures (Letter No. RCD-15001/6/2021), 2021. fssai.gov.in
3IARC. IARC Monographs Volume 116 — Coffee, Maté, and Very Hot Beverages, 2016. monographs.iarc.who.int
4EFSA. Scientific Opinion on the safety of caffeine — EFSA NDA Panel, 2015. efsa.europa.eu
5EFSA. EFSA explains risk assessment: Caffeine (Lay Summary), 2015. efsa.europa.eu
6FSSAI. Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations 2011, Chapter 2.10 — Beverages (Tea, Coffee and Chicory), 2011. fssai.gov.in

Independently researched6 citations