Does decaf coffee contain a harmful additive? Advocates want to ban a certain chemical in the brew
WASHINGTON — There’s a fight brewing over the future of decaf coffee.
Consumer health advocates are petitioning the Food and Drug Administration to ban a key chemical, methylene chloride, used to decaffeinate coffee beans. While the chemical is almost entirely removed during the decaffeination process, advocates say that a little-known nearly 66-year-old federal law mandates the agency ban the additive because it has been proven to cause cancer in rodents.
