They are among the protagonists of the breakfast of millions of Italians, but not all are the same. Let’s talk about biscuits, analyzed in a new test The Lifesaver to check not only the list of ingredients with which they are made but also the presence of acrylamide and mycotoxins, two contaminants that can creep into baked products.
The analyzes involved 29 types of biscuits, 13 of which were “white” and 16 wholemeal, belonging to the most popular brands: from Mulino Bianco to Saiwa, from Balocco to Doria up to large-scale retail trade branded products such as Esselunga, Coop, Lidl, Conad and Eurospin.
Curious to discover the results?
The results of the biscuit test
If the presence of mycotoxins is overall reassuring, the levels of acrylamide, although within the reference thresholds, remain an alarm bell, especially for children.
Acrylamide is formed when starchy foods – such as biscuits, bread, potatoes or coffee – are cooked or toasted at high temperatures. It is a by-product of the Maillard reaction, the same one that gives foods their browning and crunchiness, but which can transform breakfast into a potential source of exposure to a substance classified by the WHO IARC as a “probable human carcinogen”.
The EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) has been reporting for years the need to reduce the presence of acrylamide in foods, particularly in those intended for children, who are among the most exposed. Baked sweets and biscuits represent a significant portion of the daily intake of this contaminant in children’s diets.
Yet, despite scientific recommendations, the European Union has never set a binding legal limit, but only reference values: 350 micrograms per kilo for adults and 150 for children up to 3 years. These are indicative, non-mandatory thresholds that producers should respect on a voluntary basis. In practice, even when a biscuit contains high levels of acrylamide, no withdrawal from the market is foreseen.
In the Il Salvagente test, no sample exceeded the maximum threshold for adults, but several products come significantly closer to that for children. And considering that biscuits are often consumed by the whole family, the data is anything but reassuring.
According to analyzes conducted in the laboratories of the Federico II University of Naples, the average concentration of acrylamide was found to be 88.6 micrograms/kg: a value which, while respecting the reference thresholds, entails a potential cumulative risk for those who regularly consume biscuits, especially children and adolescents.
The test also analyzed the presence of mycotoxins, toxic substances that can develop in cereals due to mold and fungi, especially if the raw materials are not stored correctly.
Overall, the situation appeared more reassuring than with acrylamide. The two most well-known and regulated mycotoxins, Deoxynivalenol (Don) and Zearalenone, were well below the legal limits in all the samples analyzed.
However, the issue of the so-called “emerging toxins”, such as Enniatins (Enn), is more complex, for which there are no regulatory reference values yet, but some have been found in concentrations that are anything but negligible. Although their long-term effects are not yet precisely known, their widespread presence suggests the need for further controls and an update of European regulations.
In addition to contaminants, The Lifesaver it also assessed the overall quality of the recipes, rewarding products with more fiber and less sugar and penalizing those with unhealthy ingredients.
Among the “special watchdogs” are palm oil, still present in some brands known for its high saturated fat content, and glucose-fructose syrup, a sweetening ingredient that can contribute to the development of fatty liver in children.
Also under observation are phosphates, additives that can reduce the absorption of calcium, and some sweeteners such as maltitol, potentially responsible for intestinal disorders if consumed in excess.
Below, the two worst white biscuits among those sampled (we will talk about the wholemeal biscuits in another article).
“White” biscuits: the two worst in the test
Among the classic biscuits analysed, two products ended up at the bottom of the ranking. These are the following:
To read the entire biscuit ranking, refer to the November issue of Salvagente.
