Ready-made pasta sauces, canned ravioli and frozen pizza: the selection of ready-made products is huge.
Some contain ingredients that are better avoided.
E122, E620 - E625 and the sweetener E951: If you check the list of ingredients for ready meals, you will usually come across a few E numbers.
All food that is available on the European market is tested by the European Food Safety Authority.
But by no means all of the ingredients in products are completely harmless.
For example, there are quantity restrictions for some additives in food -
including substances that are suspected of being carcinogenic *
.
The freshest cuisine is still the healthiest - with regional foods fresh from the market.
But often there is no time or leisure to stock up on fresh food in the supermarket and then conjure up a delicious dish in the kitchen.
Especially after a long day at work, there is a great temptation to simply grab the frozen vegetables or ready-made soup.
In most cases, this is not a wrong decision -
but there are products with ingredients that are considered to be potentially carcinogenic
.
Carcinogenic substances in finished products
Colorings, preservatives, flavor enhancers and sweeteners are added by food producers to improve the shelf life, taste and consistency of their products.
Over 300 such additives are permitted in Germany,
but you should be careful with the following names on the list of ingredients
:
E102 - Tartrazine:
The yellow azo dye is said not only to cause skin rashes and dyspnoea, a carcinogenic effect is also being discussed.
In addition, people who have an intolerance to aspirin react to the substance.
The dye E110 is said to have the same dubious effect.
E123 - Amaranth:
This dye is suspected of damaging the kidneys.
In America it is banned as an additive because it has been carcinogenic in animal experiments.
E150 - caramel:
In the USA, foods with the brown coloring must be provided with a warning that indicates the potential cancer risk, according to Focus.de.
In this country, E150 is considered harmless as long as the daily dose of 300 milligrams per kilogram of body weight is not exceeded.
E951 - Aspartame:
The sweetener is said to promote headaches and even memory loss.
In animal experiments, researchers have also proven carcinogenic effects.
You don't want to study the ingredient lists when shopping?
For organic food, 47 out of 316 additives are permitted, all of which are harmless
.
The organic farming associations include Bioland, Demeter and Naturland.
The emblems of the associations can also be found on the products.
(jg)
*
Merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editors network
.
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