Even four years after an initial appeal to avoid foods with artificial sweeteners, these can still be detected in roughly the same concentration in Hamburg’s groundwater. “We are not yet finding any changes in the values ??in the groundwater area,” said a spokeswoman for Hamburg Wasser on Wednesday in Hamburg.
The synthetic substances that are found, for example, in light sodas, sugar-free sweets, medicines, juices and jams are so stable that they cannot be broken down either by the body or in the sewage treatment plants. And so they end up in groundwater and thus in drinking water.
These are, for example, the tiniest concentrations of the artificial sweeteners acesulfame-K, cyclamate and saccharin. According to the information, the tap water can continue to be drunk without hesitation. But the problem with this is that drinking water should be as pure as possible, also with a view to the future.
Hamburg Wasser is therefore calling for a ban on non-biodegradable sweeteners if they have no social benefit. In this context, the company also advocates using plant-based sweeteners such as stevia instead. With consumers making more conscious purchasing decisions, things could also change for manufacturers. “The big levers lie with the manufacturers,” said the spokeswoman. The “Hamburger Morgenpost” had previously reported.
