Coffee Won't Need Cancer Warning in California After All

State exempts coffee from Proposition 65 cancer warnings
‘Everybody feels a little healthier now,’ proprietor says

An employee passes a drink order to a customer at the drive-thru of a Starbucks Corp. coffee shop in Rodeo, California, U.S., on Monday, April 23, 2018. The world's largest coffee-shop chain is embracing the drive-thru lane. Eighty percent of all its new U.S. cafes will have them.Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

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By Edvard Pettersson

June 3, 2019 at 10:45 PM UTC

Updated on

June 4, 2019 at 12:12 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

California coffee lovers can indulge their caffeine habit without worry now that the state has decided the beverage doesn’t need a cancer warning after all.

That conclusion by a state regulator comes eight years after dozens of coffee roasters and retailers, including Starbucks Corp., Target Corp., Nestle USA Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.’s Whole Foods Market, were accused in a lawsuit of violating a state law that requires warning labels on toxic substances. A Los Angeles judge’s ruling last year requiring the warnings could have resulted in millions of dollars in fines for the companies for failing to alert consumers sooner.