Test sugars and pesticides in children's fruit teas

Only five products without complaint

29/12/2014

According to a study by the magazine "Ökotest", "fruit teas for children often contain sugar, pesticide residues or questionable additives". While the tested organic products were free of pesticides, "six of the nine tested conventional products were found".

The worst was cut off by two granules containing large amounts of sugar. In addition, many products contain flavorings. Such added substances can be declared as "natural flavor" in the product information. In fact, they are not won from real fruits. They can also be obtained by using bacteria, fungi or yeast from natural ingredients. „A pineapple flavoring, which is also widely used in children's tea, is made, for example, from butyric acid and ethanol. This substance, which smells strongly of pineapple, is called ethyl butyrate and can cause headache and vomiting in its pure form when inhaled.“

Biotees performed best

The best of the 5 organic teas that came with „very well“ were evaluated. They were free of sugar, flavorings and pesticides. Slightly worse off were two products containing useless product references. The remaining organic products were with „Well“ to „sufficient“ evaluated because they contained flavorings in different concentrations. These could lead to a "conditioning of the taste".

In contrast, the conventional products performed significantly worse in the study than the organic products. Your rating was enough „satisfying“ to „insufficient“, because they contained pesticide residues. In addition, one granulate contained caries-promoting sugar additives, and two further contained high caries-promoting sugar concentrations. In addition, flavors were found in five teas and two of the products were also uselessly added vitamins. Ökotest advises "only buy teas that are free of sugar, flavorings and pesticides". (Jp)