LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles judge has ruled that California law requires coffee companies to carry an ominous cancer warning label because of a chemical produced in the roasting process.

Superior Court Judge Elihu Berle wrote in a proposed ruling Wednesday that Starbucks and other coffee companies failed to show that the threat from a chemical compound produced in the roasting process was insignificant.

A nonprofit group had sued coffee roasters, distributors, and retailers under a state law that requires warnings on a wide range of chemicals that can cause cancer. One of those chemicals is acrylamide, a carcinogen present in coffee.

The coffee industry had claimed the chemical was present at harmless levels and should be exempt from the law because it results naturally from the cooking process necessary to make beans flavorful.

The case has been developing for eight years and is still not over. A third phase of trial will later determine any civil penalties that coffee companies must pay.

In the first phase, Berle said the defense failed to present enough evidence to show there was no significant risk posed by acrylamide in coffee.

The law put the burden on the defense to show that the level of the chemical won’t result in one excess case of cancer for every 100,000 people exposed.

associated press