Nourishment

Our food can be polluted with harmful substances

Some contaminants enter food through human activity, some are of natural origin.

Chemical contaminants are substances that are unintentionally present in food or animal feed. These substances are generated during production, processing, transport or originate from environmental contamination. Chemical contaminants can be very harmful to humans and animals.

Contaminants in the food chain

Contaminant levels in food and feed are usually too low to harm consumers and animals but they can cause effects such as food poisoning and their presence or accumulation over time might affect animal and human health.

With a few tricks you can prevent the absorption of the pollutants, or make the poison non-toxic.

Types of food contaminants in food and feed

Contamination is food pollution. It does not matter what contaminated food or beverages. It is enough that something came into contact with the food that does not belong there.

• Natural toxins
  From algae, fungi, and plants including some weeds and sea plankton.
• Metals and inorganic substances Lead, mercury and substances like fluorine and nitrates
• Unauthorised veterinary medicines
  Prohibited use in food-producing animals.
• Environmental contaminants
  Industrial and consumer chemicals present in air, soil and water
• Process contaminants
  Formed during processing like high-temperature cooking..

Antibiotics as a pollutant in meat

Residues of antibiotics are found in particular in products from factory farming. Many breeders of pigs, chickens and cattle use this agent to prevent the spread of various pathogens.

Due to the widespread use of antibiotics, the bacteria become resistant not only in the animals.

Dioxin in fat-containing animal products

Dioxin is produced by waste incineration or metal extraction and gets into the air and soil. This pollutant is very long-lived and degrades only extram slowly. It’s very hazardous even in low concentrations and can also be found in fats added to animal feed.

Dioxin is deposited mainly in animal products with a high fat content and thus fatty tissue. These products include:

• Dairy products, eggs and especially meat and fish

   

   

Heavy metals in fish, fruit and vegetables

Heavy metals can cause headaches or damage nerves and organs, depending on the dose.

Lead and cadium are mainly found in fatty fish such as halibut, pike or tuna. These absorb the toxic substances produced by industrial and car exhaust through the water.
In fruits and vegetables, the heavy metals come from busy roads or lead-polluted sites.

Pesticides and fertilizers in fruits and vegetables

The use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers around the world to increase yields is nothing new. But these chemicals can also end up in your food. Especially in imported fruits and vegetables, as well as in coffee, pesticides can be detected. Depending on the type of poison, they remain in the organism for different lengths of time.

Pesticides:

• Herbicides
  They are used specifically against certain plants or, in the case of glyphosate, as a broad-spectrum herbicide against virtually any plant
  
• Fungicides
  They are used against fungal infestations such as apple scab or powdery mildew. Typical fungi are, for example, apple scab and powdery mildew.
• Insecticides
  Insecticides are effective against almost all insects and are used to make fields “pest-free. Neonicotinoids in particular are responsible for large-scale bee mortality.
  

However, natural toxins also occur in nature

These poisons serve the plant to protect itself from any predators and can mostly be destroyed by heating the food. In contrast to adults, a very small amount is often sufficient to cause poisoning in children.

Natural toxins include:

• Hydrogen cyanide is found in apricot kernels or bitter almonds
• Solanine in green, poorly stored potatoes and green tomatoes.
• Morphine in poppy seeds
• Oxalic acid in rhubarb, spinach, chard, beet, sweet potatoes, bamboo shoots and cocoa
• Phasin is found especially in raw kidney beans
• Phytic acid found in whole grains and oilseeds