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Tea mostly contaminated Chamomile and herbal teas often contaminated with pollution
Many who enjoy a cup of tea want to relax and hope for a positive effect on their health. However, not every tea is recommended. Stiftung Warentest has found in an investigation that many herbal teas are contaminated with pollutants. Only about every second product has convinced the examiner.
Herbal teas contaminated with pollutants
Experts have been calling for suppliers of herbal teas for years to be careful when planting and harvesting plants for herbal tea and tea production. Nevertheless, there are always headlines such as: Many herbal and peppermint teas contain plant toxins, carcinogenic plant toxin found in organic baby tea, or: Black tea often contaminated with pollutants. And also in a recent investigation of the Stiftung Warentest showed that many herbal teas are not recommended because of the burden.
Stiftung Warentest has tested 64 herbal teas (peppermint, fennel, chamomile and colorful mixtures) and found harmful substances in many products. (Image: amenic181 / fotolia.com) The most popular varieties of the German citizens
Peppermint, fennel, chamomile or colorful mixtures - these herbal teas drink the Germans according to Stiftung Warentest the most.
The experts have now tested a total of 64 teas of the four varieties for pollutants and found that almost all fennel tea and many peppermint teas have no harmful substances and are recommended, while in chamomile teas and herbal mixtures often harmful substances were found.
According to the testers, a total of six teas could only be rated as "sufficient".
The chamomile tea from Kusmi Tea even cuts off "poor". The provider took the affected batch after the announcement of the test results from the market.
The detailed herbal tea test appears in the April issue of the magazine "test" (from 30.03.2017) and is available for a fee at "www.test.de/kraeutertee".
How the pollutants get into the tea
According to the examiners, the pyrrolizidine alkaloids, PA for short, were the most worrying findings. Especially chamomile tea and herbal tea mixtures were burdened with it.
The "test" editor Ina Bockholt explained in a communication how the pollutants get into the teas:
"On fields where tea plants grow, sometimes grow wild herbs. Some, like Greiskraut and Jakobskreuzkraut, contain Pyrrolizidinalkaloide (PA). Usually tea herbs are harvested by machine. In the process, other plants are mowed. Chamomile, with its yellow, fine flowers, has a particularly high risk of overlooking critical wild herbs. "
Mutagenic and carcinogenic effects
"PA are secondary ingredients that are made by plants to repel predators. In foods, they are undesirable because they damage the liver and showed mutagenic and cancer-causing effects in animal experiments, "writes the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) in a statement.
"Herbal teas contaminated with PA, including rooibos tea, as well as black and green tea and honey are the main sources that allow consumers to ingest PA. The amounts of PA contained in these foods can be harmful to both children and adults with prolonged (chronic) intake, "it continues.
"However, there is no acute health risk here." There is still no legal maximum level for pyrrolizidine carbohydrates in foods.
But even if loaded teas pose no acute danger, regular drinking increases the risk of tumors and liver damage, writes Stiftung Warentest.
Extremely loaded tea was taken off the market
When Kusmi Tea Chamomille with its extremely high PA content was noticed during the test phase at the beginning of the year, the testers immediately informed the public, the food inspectorate and the supplier, who subsequently recalled the batch from the market.
According to the examiners, the levels of PA in the chamomile teas of teapot, pukka, and "Westminster Tea Chamomile" were increased by Aldi (North).
The Stiftung Warentest also found similar PA strains in two herbal tea mixtures, the "Kings' Crown Herbal Symphony" by Rossmann and the "8 Kräuter" by Teekanne. The "Tip Peppermint tea" from Real also contains a lot of PA.
The testers also have good news: fennel tea, which is often given to babies for drinking, rated "very good" in the pollutant check. Only the fennel tea from Marco Polo was only "satisfactory" because of its pesticide content. (Ad)