Worried about taking in too much caffeine as you sip your morning coffee? Soon there will be colored labels displayed in coffee chain stores across the country indicating the quantity of caffeine in your espresso, latte or cappuccino.
According to the European Commission Scientific Committee on Food, daily intake of caffeine should be kept under 300mg to avoid health problems.
But few coffee lovers know how many cups they can safely drink a day unless information on caffeine content is provided.
Hence the announcement yesterday by the Consumer Protection Commission that starting on Aug.1, coffee shops are advised to use simple, easy-to-understand signs in red, yellow and green as caffeine strength indicators.
The commission's announcement followed its meeting with representatives of major coffee chain stores on Wednesday.
Under the new labeling system, a red sign means the cup of coffee contains a caffeine level of between 200mg and 300mg, or even over 300mg, said Liu Chin-fang (劉清芳), director of the commission's department of supervision and coordination.
Yellow refers to caffeine content of between 100mg and 200mg, while green means caffeine is under 100mg, Liu said.
"Some people may experience palpitations after drinking too much coffee. The friendly reminders can help the nation's rapidly growing number of coffee drinkers to work out how much caffeine they are drinking," she said during a telephone interview.
Liu suggested that the colored signs be displayed on menu boards or posters in the stores.
As the signs will not be compulsory, however, companies who do not display them will not be penalized.
The Act Governing Food Sanitation (
The act has yet to be extended to coffee shops.
"The commission is appealing to the market leaders' consciences and they should be happy to help safeguard consumers' health," Liu said.
Major coffee chain operators have greeted the suggestion positively, saying that they will study how to implement the new measure even though Taiwan might be the first nation in the world to make such requirements.
"We'll do our best to cooperate with the government but as of now we have yet to finalize how to display the colored signs," said a public relations official with President Starbucks Coffee Corp (
She said they have offered low-caffeine products for consumers to choose from in its 170 stores nationwide.
Roger Hsu (
"Coffee is made freshly in our 113 stores and there is little differences in coffee volumes between our outlets," he said.
"Once the signs are made, they can be used for a long time to help consumers with health concerns," he said.
According to the commission, coffeeshop chain operators who attended the meeting on Wednesday -- including Barista (西雅圖), Ikari (怡客), Kohikan (客喜康), IS Coffee and 85℃ -- all expressed support and agreed to display the colors starting in August.
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