Öko-Test examines chocolate: some varieties make you lose your appetite
Created: 04/22/2022, 14:44
By: Fee Halberstadt
Öko-Test examined 25 chocolates for, among other things, the origin of the cocoa beans.
(Iconic image) © Oliver Berg/dpa
Chocolate is a very popular sweet in Germany.
However, many products contain unhealthy ingredients and poor working conditions.
Kassel – who doesn’t love chocolate?
The selection is huge and there is something for almost everyone.
White, whole milk or dark chocolate, with fruit, nuts, biscuits, chilli or much more.
There is also a large vegan selection.
Öko-Test examined 25 different types of chocolate from brands and discounters' own brands.
But with many strains, the results of the test will make you lose your appetite.
The chocolates examined include, for example, Alnatura and dm Bio-Schokolade.
Likewise, however, products from Ja, Tip, Gut und Billig, Ritter Sport, Sarotti, Lindt and Milka.
Each of these sweets was examined by Öko-Test at the end of 2019 using the same factors.
On the one hand, sensory experts tested the taste.
On the other hand, a laboratory also examined mineral oils.
A 2017 study found that chocolate was contaminated with mineral oils.
In 2019, Öko-Test also looked for pollutants such as acrylamide, cadmium, nickel and salmonella.
25 chocolates in the test: results are more than unsatisfactory
The last point that was taken into account by Öko-Test is the origin of the cocoa beans for the production of the chocolate.
These consist of cocoa butter and mass, as well as milk powder and sugar.
As Öko-Test itself describes, the cultivation of cocoa plants leads to the exploitation of farmers and workers and illegal deforestation.
Öko-Test therefore asked the chocolate suppliers about the origin of the cocoa, including documents such as delivery documents, invoices and certificates.
The result is more than unsatisfactory.
Öko-Test examined: Three out of 25 chocolate manufacturers can trace their supply chains
Of the 25 products tested, only three were able to disclose their supply chain to the cocoa farmers.
Nine of the providers did not submit any tracking of the supply chain to Öko-Test.
There can therefore be no question of transparency.
How this can happen is actually quite easy to explain.
Many chocolate producers only buy from suppliers themselves.
At the end of the supply chain, it is difficult to trace exactly where the beans come from.
However, this leads to unfair cultivation.
In order to be able to identify human rights violations such as child labor and even slavery, the origin must be traceable.
Because that is usually the result of extreme poverty.
But even certified providers do not always pay a fair wage, which means that the problem persists.
Seals such as UTZ or Fairtrade are no guarantee that the origin of the product can be traced.
It's different with coffee, for example.
Results from Öko-Test: After that, you get hungry for chocolate
In addition to the origin of the cocoa beans, the chocolate products were also examined in a laboratory for mineral oils, acrylamide, cadmium, nickel and salmonella.
Here, too, the results are not exactly satisfactory.
Not much has changed with regard to the mineral oils in chocolate since the last study in 2017.
The
dm organic milk chocolate
and
dark milk chocolate from Hachez
had the
most mineral oil
residues .
Öko-Test therefore recommends that it is better not to eat them.
After all, none of the chocolates have MOAH compounds suspected of being cancerous.
All products also have a good taste.
Some achieved more points than others in points such as smell, taste and mouthfeel, but none came off worse than "satisfactory".
There was no winner.
In some cases, the blind tasters liked chocolate from discounters better than that from brands.
Stiftung Warentest also examined various chocolates such as Lindt, Milka and Ritter Sport and came to a different conclusion.
According to them, good chocolate must be expensive.
Final results of the chocolate test: Only two products finished with "good".
In the study, there were only two products that received a rating of
"good"
.
This is an
organic chocolate from Rapunzel
and
milk chocolate from Ritter Sport
.
Both were able to trace the origin of their chocolate back to the farmer.
The only downside to the organic chocolate is that it has mineral oil residue, Chip writes.
Öko-Test examined 25 different chocolates for their components, the taste and the origin of the cocoa beans.
(Iconic image) © Werner Rudhart/dpa
Öko-Test gives some tips on what to look out for when buying chocolate.
In general, they advise against relying on organic seals.
These do not guarantee fair cocoa cultivation.
Minimum social standards are only included with the Naturland seal.
UTZ and Fairtrade seals do not necessarily mean fair chocolate either.
Due to the volume balance, it is allowed to mix Fairtrade goods and non-certified cocoa in the case of chocolate.
(Fee Halberstadt)
