/>i- On August 7, 2025, a New York federal judge ruled in favor of a New York City ban on the sale of steeped kava beverages. The judge’s opinion follows a two-year lawsuit brought by the owners of two locations of a tiki-themed kava café, Kavasutra, alleging that kava mixed with water and no other ingredients was legally a single-ingredient food under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) and therefore presumed safe.
- However, according to the judge, when kava is added to water it is indeed a food additive. The judge found that under the FD&C Act, water on its own is considered a food and adding kava “changes the chemical composition of water from H20 to a liquid that includes kavalactones, chemicals that have hepatotoxic properties.”
- According to a 2020 memorandum “Review of the published literature pertaining to the safety of Kava for use in conventional foods” cited in the opinion, FDA has noted that there is not enough toxicological data to conclude that kava is safe for indiscriminate use as a beverage. Further, because “there is no food additive regulation in effect that provides for the safe use of kava as an ingredient in conventional foods,” there is no basis for such a use to be considered generally recognized as safe. Thus, FDA “considers kava an unapproved food additive when used as an ingredient in conventional foods.” The opinion also notes that kava is banned in Germany, Switzerland, France, and Canada based on findings that it can cause liver toxicity when ingested.
- The New York City law considers kava a food adulterant, meaning that the plant itself is not banned, only prohibited from being sold as a food or beverage in food establishments.
Judge Upholds New York City Kava Ban
Thursday, August 14, 2025
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