Rice cakes sound harmless at first. And indeed, the round rice thalers are easy to digest, crunchy and low in calories. But they sometimes contain a lot of poison, as Öko-Test reports. A product, on the other hand, can convince.
Rice cakes are particularly popular with parents of small children. They are often given to the offspring as a snack because they are unsweetened and low in fat and calories. They can also be a snack alternative for people with gluten intolerance. The production works similar to popcorn. Depending on the variety, the ingredients are mixed. The heat and pressure causes the moisture contained in the grain to expand until the rice grains burst. The escaping starch “glues” all the ingredients together in a matter of seconds. The product is several times larger than the original grains.
Öko-Test has been criticizing the occurrence of arsenic in rice cakes for years. Early signs of arsenic poisoning are abdominal cramps or diarrhea. Chronic intake of small amounts can damage nerves and blood vessels, but also carries an increased risk of cancer. According to the recommendation of the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BFR), such products should only be consumed in moderation.
Öko-Test investigated the question of how healthy or unhealthy the popular snack is. The test program for the 20 products tested included the toxic elements arsenic, cadmium and lead, as well as mold toxins found in grain, mineral oil components, pesticides and the pollutant acrylamide that is typical of baked goods.
Result? The commissioned laboratory found inorganic arsenic in all of the rice cakes. Arsenic is part of the earth’s crust. Rice plants absorb a lot of it. But a baby snack should contain as little of it as possible. Because other foods such as drinking water and milk also contain tiny amounts of the toxic substance and mostly enter the food chain via drinking water. There is no special limit for rice cakes for infants and small children. The testers therefore based their assessment on the limit value that applies to rice used in the production of food for infants and young children.
Only one product in the test convinced with the test result “very good”. The “Babydream Rice Cakes Apple-Mango, Organic” from Rossmann can therefore be accessed. The test winner is available for 1.97 euros per 100 grams and only contains traces of the toxic inorganic arsenic. The “Rewe Organic Mini Rice Cakes Apple-Raspberry” (2.26 euros) still received a “good” attest. They also only contain traces of arsenic, but too little vitamin B1.
The list of rice cakes that are heavily or very heavily contaminated with arsenic is much larger. In some cases, acrylamide and/or cadmium, lead and the mold toxin aflatoxin were also found here. The following products were consistently rated “inadequate” by Öko-Test: “Bio Sonne Organic Rice Cakes with Sea Salt” from Norma, “Bio Central Rice Cakes Natural”, “Byodo Rice Cakes without added salt”, “Dennree Rice Cakes unsalted”, “Lima Rice cakes without added salt, organic” and “Naturgut Bio rice cakes without added salt” from Penny.
(This article was first published on Thursday, October 20, 2022.)
