Why you shouldn’t currently be eating products made with locust bean gum

Foodwatch warns of ethylene oxide
Why you shouldn’t be eating products with locust bean gum right now

A few weeks ago, several products containing contaminated locust bean gum were recalled. Then it got quiet. Now Foodwatch commented on the problem again on television – and issued an impressive warning against the toxin ethylene oxide, which is said to continue to pose a risk.

The last problem came up on the TV show “JENKE.” on. Jenke von Wilmsdorff has dedicated his so-called self-experiment this time to the topic of food and in the current episode asks himself: What do we really eat? In return, the presenter eats numerous polluted products in the program. One of them: an Asian noodle soup that shouldn’t really have been on the shelf. Because in the course of the show it comes out that it contained locust bean gum – and was contaminated with ethylene oxide.

Ethylene oxide: highly toxic, carcinogenic and mutagenic

Here you have to hook and distinguish: locust bean gum and ethylene oxide do not necessarily belong together. The flour is primarily an additive, which is also known under the number E 410, and is used as a thickener in the manufacture of numerous products. Ethylene oxide, on the other hand, is a substance that is used as a disinfectant – but it is highly toxic and should not come into contact with food. According to the Federal Office for Risk Assessment, ethylene oxide is mutagenic and carcinogenic.

A few months ago, however, samples were found to have contaminated, among other things, locust bean gum with ethylene oxide. This resulted in a huge recall in several countries – because the flour is used in processing, for example in ice cream, baked goods, meat products and jams. Or in the production of Chinese noodles, as happened in the Jenke experiment. But how can it be that contaminated products can still be bought in Germany?

So at the moment one can only advise consumers not to eat products that contain locust bean gum.

This is what the presenter asks on the program Oliver Huizinga from Foodwatch. Currently in Germany – compared to other countries – significantly fewer products related to ethylene oxide contamination are being recalled. It should be just 55, in France there are several hundred. Ice cream is particularly affected. According to Huizinga, however, the companies in this country are currently of the opinion that small amounts are not that bad.

In the EU directives, however, it says differently: “In the case of ethylene oxide (…), the EU states have agreed that it must not be included, because every little bit can theoretically cause cancer, and every tiny molecule can be harmful. That is why all products containing contaminated locust bean gum must be recalled.”, demands Huizinga clearly in the report. The contaminated locust bean gum, which, according to Jenke, had already been imported by the ton in June, has long since been processed.

That is why the Foodwatch expert currently sees only one drastic possibility for consumers to protect themselves from the toxin: “So at the moment you can only advise consumers not to eat products that contain locust bean gum”, advises Huizina in the Jenke experiment.

According to the Hamburg Consumer Center, the ethylene oxide problem was initially noticed by contaminated sesame seeds. In addition to locust bean gum, the additive guacernum was also said to have been affected. The portal advises you to regularly check the website “Lebensmittelwarnung.de” of the Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety to find out about further recalls.

sources used:JENKE. The food experiment: What do we really eat ?, Federal Risk Assessment Office, Lebensmittelwarnung.de, Hamburg Consumer Center, Foodwatch

Brigitte