Eco test
Carcinogenic pollutants: Fatty fish fingers spoil the food
Children love crispy breaded fish fingers. But the brands in the trade are not really recommended. “Ökotest” has discovered carcinogenic fat pollutants in half of the fish fingers.
The Germans love fish fingers. In the 1980s, annual consumption per capita was still an average of 12 fish sticks; today, around 27, more than twice as many fish sticks are eaten. According to the German Frozen Food Institute, manufacturers in Germany sold 67,460 tons of fish fingers last year. So it’s time to take a closer look at what’s under the breading.
“Eco test” took over: the testers bought 19 brands of fish fingers, 15 of which were Alaska pollock, two pollock and one each of cod and Pacific hake. They had the fish sticks examined in special laboratories for fatty pollutants, problematic heavy metals, mineral oil components and germs. Ökotest also attaches great importance to the topic of sustainability and also assesses whether the fish for the chopsticks comes from sustainable fishing.
11 out of 19 fish fingers contain carcinogenic substances
The result is sobering: more than half of the fish sticks in the test are contaminated with fatty pollutants that are suspected of being cancerous. According to “Ökotest”, 11 out of 19 products contain excessive amounts of 3-MCPD fatty acid esters, which can be carcinogenic. Ironically, two products from the organic shop were the least convincing in terms of sustainable fishing. At least there is positive news in terms of hygiene: no roundworms, hardly any germs. Only in the Rewe own brand Yes! the laboratory showed a total germ count that is above the guideline value of the German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology (DGHM). In the tasting, all fish fingers scored “very good”.
“Ökotest” can recommend six out of 19 products with the overall rating “good”. These include the fish fingers from “Frosta” (4.59 euros per 450 g), from “Iglo” (4.89 euros) and from Lidl (2.79 euros). The “Golden Seafood Fish Sticks” from Aldi Süd (2.79 euros) cut it with “inadequate” and that from Eismann (6.42 euros) with the worst rating “inadequate”. are carcinogenic.