Groceries
Potency honey and co. – Customs warns against illegal mixtures
Customs warns about illegal imported food. (Symbolic image/archive image) Photo
© Friso Gentsch/dpa
They are advertised as potency-enhancing miracle cures, but the mostly sweet foods such as honey or chocolate contain well-known active pharmaceutical ingredients. Customs warns about the mixtures.
Since the summer of 2022, customs has had more than 13 tons of illegal potency-enhancing drugs nationwide Food withdrawn from circulation.
The General Customs Directorate in Bonn said that honey-like substances or herbal pastes are particularly often found in jars or sachets. But chocolate could also contain a potentially health-endangering potency substance that would actually have to be declared as a medicinal product and is subject to approval in Germany.
Just last week, “potency honey” from Turkey containing the Viagra active ingredient sildenafil was confiscated in a supermarket in the Biberach area near Ulm. “Side effects and interactions are already known for regularly approved potency drugs and since these mostly involve sweet foods, there is also an increased risk of unintentional consumption by children,” explained a spokesman for the General Customs Directorate.
Customs strongly advises against such products, which often promise a supposedly natural increase in potency and are advertised as miracle cures. The medicines are usually not listed in the mixtures. There are no quantities and no monitoring. The import and distribution of such “foodstuffs”, which are to be viewed as medicines, could result in criminal proceedings and prison sentences, warned customs.