Researchers find arsenic in German beer

Researchers can detect source of arsenic in beer

07.04.2013

„Beer must not contain any pollutants or heavy metals“, Most consumers believe. After all, beer in Germany is brewed according to the purity law. But many types of beer still contain arsenic. This is due to the kieselguhr filters often used in breweries, as a research team has now discovered.

In Germany, beer is brewed according to the purity law. However, it happens again and again that arsenic is found in the laboratory in some varieties. As scientists of the Technical University of Munich determined, the semi-metal passes through the filter into the barley juice. Nevertheless, the researchers give the all clear: While the arsenic values ​​exceeded the German limit value for drinking water of ten micrograms during the analyzes with up to 24 micrograms per liter, this relatively low value in drinking water is exceeded by many other European countries. In addition, since the beginning of the laboratory samples, the values ​​of the beer types concerned had significantly decreased. „The risk of alcohol in the beer is greater than that of arsenic“, so the summary of the science team around Mehmet Coelhan.

But now it's hard to see how the semi-metal got into the beer. "The tests revealed that some kieselguhr samples released arsenic," says Coelhan. Although the values ​​are only slightly high, they could be clearly demonstrated. Because it is now clear how the substance gets into the beer, the breweries could draw their conclusions from it and resort to filters other than kieselguhr. According to Coelhan, it could be enough to clean the filter sand with water before use. Then the arsenic can be washed out. The World Health Organization (WHO) has been recommending a drinking water limit of 10 micrograms per liter since 1992. In many industrialized countries of Europe and the USA, this value is sometimes significantly exceeded. In Germany, compliance with the limit has been maintained since the mid-1990s. (Sb)

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Picture: Didi01