Cleaning agent residues

Consumer advocates found chloroform in butter

Margarine

(Bild: Adriaan van de Venter/stock.adobe)

The Association for Consumer Information (VKI) has tested 30 butter and butter substitute products. The result is poor: mineral oil residues were found in almost all products, and chloroform was also found in cow's milk products.

In total, two products were rated "very good", four "good", two "average", seven "less satisfactory" and six "unsatisfactory". This was mainly due to mineral oil residues, which can be carcinogenic. According to the VKI, these substances can already be present in the raw milk or enter the product during production or via packaging.

There are no legal limits
There are currently no legal limits in Austria; by German standards, cow's milk products from Heidi, Mayerhofer-Sebera, Bio-Wiesenmilch, Salzburg Milch Besser Bio, Denns and vegan variants from Meggle were particularly conspicuous.

Butter in the supermarket

(Bild: Kronen Zeitung)

Chloroform was found in 29 out of 30 cow's milk products. It is produced when milk fat reacts with active chlorine from improperly used cleaning agents for milking systems. Strikingly, six of the nine products with the highest chloroform content came from Berglandmilch.

Hygiene problems
The vegan block from Naturli contained coliform germs, which indicates a lack of hygiene and can cause diarrhea. The farmer's butter from Mayerhofer-Sebera also had an increased yeast content, another hygiene problem.

According to consumer protection, the price says little about the quality. The best vegan and animal products cost 8.26 and 11.16 euros per kilogram respectively, which is below the average of 12.31 euros. The most expensive butter, Mayerhofer-Sebera at 25.50 euros per kilogram, came in last place due to harmful substances and microbiological defects.