Ferrero nut nougat cream Nutella has been sold in Germany since 1965 and is found in many households in the morning next to slices of toast and egg cups. If the consumer magazine Öko-Test has its way, Nutella should be banned from the breakfast table.
In a recent test article on 21 nut nougat creams, Nutella together with the well-known brand Milka hazelnut cream received the overall rating of “unsatisfactory”.
The spreads of the big corporations Ferrero and Mondelez have a sugar content of 56 percent. None of the other products tested is as sweet. Particularly ironic: Milka hazelnut cream of all things has only five percent “hazelnut mass”, less than all other creams.
Sugar is a problem and this problem is everywhere: Most ready-made products, including frozen pizzas and currywurst, contain the substance that promotes obesity and increases the risk of developing diabetes, having a heart attack – or cancer.
The editors of Öko-Test attested that all of the 21 nut nougat creams tested had an increased or – as with Nutella and Milka hazelnut cream, for example – a greatly increased sugar content. In addition to around 50 percent sugar, the creams often have more than 35 percent fat.
Before an edible product ends up on the plate, the ingredients have to travel long distances in our globalized economy. Whether during harvest or packaging: the components can come into contact with mineral oil at different points. Traces of mineral oil, which can be detected in products sold, have become an increasingly important issue in recent years.
Substances touched by mineral oil are called MOSH (Mineral Oil Saturated Hydrocarbons) and MOAH (Mineral Oil Aromatic Hydrocarbons). None of the 21 creams examined by Öko-Test was completely free of it. At least traces were detected in four products, in 17 creams MOSH was measured by a laboratory at a level that Öko-Test describes as “slightly increased” or “increased”. After all, the possibly carcinogenic aromatic mineral oil hydrocarbons MOAH have not been detected in any product.
A nut cream may have harmed the environment and the people who harvest its ingredients before it’s spooned out of the jar. In addition to the cocoa and nuts, this is also due to the palm oil.
This product, derived from palm trees, is in many of the products we use every day: in spreads, in cosmetics, in detergents. How can a herbal product be harmful? The problem is not the individual palm tree, but the huge palm oil plantations, for which rainforests are being cut down, especially in Indonesia.
According to Öko-Test, seven nut nougat creams contain no palm oil. The two test winners – dm organic chocolate cream and Ja! Nut nougat cream – yes. However, these creams are among the products that have been certified with the minimum standard RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil), which is intended to prohibit the clearing of further forests and to advocate fair payment. The palm oil in Nutella also has this seal.
It doesn’t matter how the individual products performed in the test: healthy is something else, but certainly not spreading these creams on bread.
