Spinach leaves: Toxic substances pollute frozen products - Ökotest advises against these brands

Leaf spinach is a healthy vegetable and has a long shelf life when frozen.

As Ökotest found out, some manufacturers' products contain too much nitrate, nitrite or toxic cadmium.

• Ökotest

  tested frozen spinach leaves from a total of 16 brands.

• 12 products had a harmful nitrate, nitrite or cadmium content.

• The substances can have a

  harmful effect

  on humans.

Frankfurt am Main -

are particularly rich in iron and make you as strong as Popeye?

That's not entirely true, but spinach is a really healthy vegetable.

Even when frozen, spinach leaves contain neither additives nor flavor carriers and are therefore frozen and an all-round healthy product.

has now tested 16 popular frozen leaf spinach, including from

and

The result is alarming: only four products received the grade good or very good, all the other products had too high a content of harmful substances.

Spinach leaves: Toxic substances pollute frozen products - spinach contains nitrite and pesticides

Spinach accumulates nitrate from the soil as it grows.

If the cooked

kept warm or stored at room temperature, nitrite forms.

The substance is also produced by bacteria and enzymes in the human stomach.

This salt hinders the transport of

in the blood; in addition,

in the body

from nitrite

.

Children in particular are more sensitive to nitrite.

In four leaf spinach products, Ökotest discovered a concentration of nitrite that was too high from their point of view.

If the content of the substance is already increased before cooking and subsequent storage, this is an indication of a

or too long storage before freezing.

It contains B vitamins, vitamin C, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron and is mostly also organic spinach.

This time #WISO has put frozen spinach to the test for you.

🔎 Is organic the same as organic?

⬇️https: //t.co/P4eS8GhXyk

- ZDF (@ZDF) September 4, 2020

Toxic

were found

in two other frozen products

.

The explanation for this could be wild growth.

The poisons are formed by other plants in the field and can get into the spinach.

Consequences of the increased PA content can include mutagenic or carcinogenic effects.

were found in three other products

.

Two leaf spinach contained the bee venom lambda cyhalothrin, one frozen spinach had an increased level of the substance cypermethrin, which is harmful to bees.

Spinach leaves: Toxic substances pollute frozen products - the heavy metal cadmium is contained in spinach

The biggest problem found in the test was the heavy metal

.

The toxic metal was found in seven products in an increased amount in the laboratory.

Cadmium accumulates in the human body and mainly affects the liver and kidneys.

The body excretes the metal very slowly, which in higher doses can

lead

to

.

The detailed test result can be read in the ePaper from Öko-Test.

Spinach leaves: Toxic substances pollute frozen products - Ökotest advises against these products

The organic frozen leaf spinach from

and the

brand K-Bio did

very well

.

The leaf spinach from

is not organic, but is also rated very well

.

The harvest crown leaf spinach from

received a good rating

.

Two organic products and another leaf spinach failed with the grade unsatisfactory: The

contained greatly increased nitrite values ​​in the test, the product

nitrate values ​​above the maximum content.

The

attracted attention due to its high pesticide content as well as increased nitrate and cadmium.

All other products received the grades satisfactory, sufficient or unsatisfactory.

In the video: These are the good properties of the superfood spinach

Also questionable: Ökotest tested mineral water and discovered uranium residues and microplastics in popular brands.

Several products at Rewe are also currently problematic - there are metal particles in various baked goods.

That's why the supermarket chain has now started two recalls.

tko