Test water with fruit taste without fruit

Stiftung Warentest: Benzene and artificial flavors in mineral water

04/28/2013

Instead of real fruit, which one could assume from the pictured fruits on the labels of flavored water, one usually finds only artificially aromas. This criticizes the Stiftung Warentest after an investigation of 25 different products.

Label fraud fruit
Water with fruit flavor has become a bestseller, sales increased more than 20 percent in 2012. Among other things by the printed fresh fruit on the labels gives the impression of a healthy drink. The colorful pictures of fresh apples, strawberries or lemons suggest that the product is water with flavor from the respective fruit. But in the flavored waters often find only art flavors. In addition, many of the waters are quite calorie bombs. The Stiftung Warentest examined 25 of these drinks in eight flavors, none of which rated better than "satisfactory". The "test" chief editor Anita Stocker criticized, among other things, the packaging: "This is misleading: full fruit, noteworthy fruit juice or fruit pulp does not contain any of the drinks."

24 pieces of sugar cubes per bottle
Of the products tested, none received the overall grade of "very good" or "good", six were "satisfactory" and five received only one "poor". Sugar was added almost everywhere, most of them with strawberry flavor. In part, up to 200 calories can be contained in one liter of these drinks. With a whole bottle of 1.5 liters, it can contain almost 24 cube sugar cubes. The sugar bombs range in price from about 33 cents at a discounter to about 1.45 euros for well-known products.

"Natural Apple Flavor" instead of "Apple Flavor"
Customers should read the fine print well and also understand the guidelines for food labeling. Stocker criticizes: "Mostly is not in it, what is on it. But there is something in it, which is not on it. "The project manager for food testing at product testing, Birgit Rehlender, pointed out that the ingredients are predominantly only" natural flavor "is specified. The taste should not come from the fruit in question, but may also be made from other vegetable or animal raw materials. For example, animal juices may be present in fruit juices, the consumer protection organization Foodwatch reported. Legislation on food additives creates more confusion, for clarity. Thus, the aroma must consist of 100 percent fruit, if the ingredient "apple flavor" is specified. At "natural apple flavor" at least 95 percent must come from the apple. According to Rehlender, the tested water, with the exception of one product, tasted and smelled not fruit-typical and flawless, but predominantly flavored and only fruit-like.

Worrying find of benzene
The product testers also tested the beverages for harmful substances, specifically five products containing benzoic acid. It is a preservative that is likely to contaminate the beverage with carcinogenic and germ cell damaging benzene. According to Rehlender, 0.6 microgram benzene per liter was found in one of the tested water. The current drinking water limit is 1 microgram per liter. Since all four cherry-flavored products of the flavoring agent contain large amounts of benzaldehyde, which is similar to benzoic acid, they were also tested for benzene. One found the "totally unacceptable burden" of three micrograms. However, the results have not yet been finally clarified and further tests are necessary. (Sb)

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