Texas company recalls coffee with Viagra-like ingredient

Coffee from a company in north Texas was found to contain an ingredient similar to Viagra. Bestherbs Coffee LLC is now voluntarily recalling its ''New Kopi Jantan Tradisional Herbs Coffee'' because it contained an ingredient similar to Viagra, the FDA said.

A lab analysis on this type of coffee revealed that it contained desmethyl carbodenafil, which was structurally similar to the sildenafil, the active ingredient in Viagra. The coffee was marketed as a male enhancement product, but did not disclose Viagra-like effects.

According to the FDA's statement, the undeclared compound might interact with nitrates in some prescription drugs, which could lower blood pressure to dangerous levels. Marketed as a male enhancement product, the coffee posed a particular risk to men who had diabetes, high blood pressure or cholesterol, or those with heart disease.

It also contained undeclared milk, which could cause problems for consumers with allergies who were not expecting the dairy ingredient. The company sold the product nationwide from June 2014 to June 2016, the FDA said. Each box contained 25, 13-gram packages of instant coffee. Customers who bought the coffee could return it to the Bestherbs office in Grand Prairie to receive a refund.

According to Albert Yee, the owner of the one-man Texas import business, the coffee was everywhere one looked at in the densely packed vendor stall along avenues in Malaysian cities.

''There are whole streets of it, like tequila in Mexico,'' Yee told The Washington Post by phone yesterday.

Both the FDA and Yee said there had been no consumer health issues related to his company's coffee.

He said he was not sure how much coffee was involved in the recall, but estimated he would receive a few hundred to a thousand bags from customers that he will then hand over to the FDA for destruction.