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Beware the Gingerbread Man

Christmas staple could kill you, says advocacy group.

You might think twice about eating gingerbread this Christmas.

Advocacy group Changing Markets said its latest test results, published Thursday, show gingerbread varieties on sale in Germany contain worryingly high levels of a carcinogenic contaminant called acrylamide, which is produced when starchy ingredients are cooked above 120 degrees Celsius.

In one sample tested by Fera Science, a U.K.-based laboratory owned in part by the government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the level of acrylamide in a chocolate-covered gingerbread biscuit traded by Lindner was found to contain acrylamide levels of 1,522 micrograms per kilogram. That’s 50 percent higher than the official EU benchmark for gingerbread.

Last week, Croatia and Hungary recalled two batches of baby biscuits with acrylamide levels of 1,020 µ/kg, way above the EU benchmark of 200 µ/kg for children’s biscuits.

“Germany should do what Croatia and Hungary have done and recall ginger biscuits above the benchmark, as these may also be consumed by children,” said Nuša Urbančič, a campaigner for Changing Markets.

Benjamin Strutz, a purchasing agent for Lindner, said the company was not directly responsible for the manufacturing of the biscuits in question.

“We’re not producing these biscuits ourselves, we just buy them and sell them,” Strutz said, adding that Lindner would “speak to the manufacturer and see what items have been affected.” Lindner was unable to quickly identify the cookies’ manufacturer, and officials at Germany’s Ministry of Food and Agriculture did not immediately respond to questions.

Although only one of the 51 samples of gingerbread Changing Markets tested in Germany recorded acrylamide levels above the EU benchmark, food activists say the thresholds regulating acrylamide are way too high and lack teeth because they are not binding.

While the majority of food manufacturers use industry codes of practice to reduce acrylamide, “it is quite possible that some manufacturers still find it difficult to implement them in their processes,” said Florence Ranson, communications director for FoodDrinkEurope. The group represents Europe’s food and drink manufacturing industry.

The findings from Changing Markets come at a sensitive time for the Commission. It’s in the process of drafting new legislation designed to bring down acrylamide levels now found in a range of popular food including breakfast cereals, potato chips and biscuits.

Food safety activists accuse the Commission of buckling under the pressure of big food companies that are loath to see so-called “indicative values” measuring acrylamide levels lowered and made legally binding. The latest draft of the legislation, seen by POLITICO, turned its back on setting maximum binding levels of acrylamide if the current non-binding approach is found not to work.

Adding further pressure to the future of the draft bill are allegations from Safe Food Advocacy Europe, Corporate Europe Observatory and Client Earth that the current text should not be drafted under the EU’s hygiene regulation. Instead, they would like to see the bill fall under the region’s regulation on contaminants. The Commission is analyzing the complaint.

A recent survey by Changing Markets found that 12 percent of food products placed on the EU market “presented unacceptably high levels of acrylamide above the current benchmark set by the European Commission.” The most-affected countries were Greece, Estonia, Sweden, Belgium and Ireland.

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