Cockroaches In Your Coffee? It's More Likely Than You Think

One of the great things about living in the present day is that you don't have to worry as much about your food making you sick. Thanks to the wonders of modern science and medicine, as well as some sensible regulations by organizations like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) — founded in response to some truly horrifying meatpacking plants — we can enjoy safer, more reliable food. However, that doesn't mean there aren't still some unsavory aspects of food production. For instance, there may be tiny bits of cockroach in your coffee.

There is anecdotal evidence suggesting that pre-ground coffee has contained trace amounts of cockroach material for decades. In a 2009 NPR interview, prominent biology professor Dr. Douglas Emlen recounted the lengths a colleague would go to get fresh, non-cockroach-y coffee. We'd love to tell you it's no longer an issue, but these days, it very much is. The trouble with cockroaches in coffee beans (aside from the obvious) is that, once they get in there (usually lured in by the appeal of a large, dark, fragrant warehouse) and get ground up, it's pretty much impossible to get them out unless you have a microscope, a tiny pair of tweezers, and a lot of time on your hands.

We understand that this may be alarming news for readers with a sensitive disposition, so let us reassure you: Any insect material in your coffee is well within the regulatory parameters set by the FDA. (That sounded more reassuring in our heads.) According to the agency's Food Defect Levels Handbook, up to 10% of green coffee beans can be contaminated by bugs, including cockroach parts, before they're considered unsuitable. The way coffee beans are harvested and processed makes it nearly impossible for insects to avoid coming into contact with the crop, and even with modern coffee bean cleaning machinery, it's difficult to get them all out. If that's still too much bug for you to handle, you can forgo your daily cuppa, but if you're thinking about switching to tea for your morning routine, you should be warned that you'll find plenty of insect DNA in there, too.

Yet roaches aren't at the top of the list of insects coffee growers worry about the most. Pests like the coffee bean weevil and the coffee berry borer beetle (say that five times fast) can wreak havoc on crops, preventing many coffee beans from ever reaching consumers in the first place. Coffee may have powers we're only beginning to understand, but that doesn't mean it can't be brought low by a few cockroaches.