An alert was issued yesterday, January 19 by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, FSAI for two batches of Irish roasted coffee with “unsafe” levels of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, THC.

The affected batches of Kama Hemp Kama Artisan Coffee are Kama Hemp Kama Artisan Organic Ground Coffee 100g, batch number: C 22 03 04 with a best before of 4/3/22. And Kama Hemp Kama Artisan Whole Bean Coffee 100g, batch number: C 22 03 05, with a best before of 4/3/22.

You may know THC as the element in weed that gets you high. But the compound THC is just one of over 400 found in weed. In America, THC is used in syrups, edibles, oils, drops, in medicines, and topicals including lotions and balms used for anti-inflammation.

Consumers have been advised not to ingest the implicated products. According to the FSAI, the acute reference dose for THC in food products is 1μg/kg body weight. This is set by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). There is no realistically achievable lethal dose of THC according to the WHO.

Distributors of the product have been requested to withdraw the implicated batches from the market. Retailers have been requested to remove the batches from sale and display and are required to post a point-of-sale recall notice in stores and on websites if sold online. 

The recall comes months after the Irish coffee brand, which infused the products with CBD, was forced to close by the FSAI due to “lack of safety procedures”. The closure was issued back in November 2021. The official statement from FSAI demanded that “all the activities of the food business, its establishments, holdings, or other premises, be ceased, insofar as those activities relate to placing food on the market… The food business’s internet and social media sites are discontinued to put food on the market.”

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