We integrated cool information from the new official German food portal lebensmittelklarheit.de in barcoo. Check out the German blog post if you want to.

You can find them in detergent additives, mildew removers, all-purpose cleaners, and foot and shoe sprays; in liquid disinfectants, hand gels, towels, and so-called ‘hygienic’ sprays. These days you can even find automatic disinfectant dispensers that use sensor technology. “Many manufacturers have recently started trying to put these dangerous and unnecessary disinfectants back onto the market again.”

Source: Consumer Centre Hamburg

In times of the swine flu and EHEC, many disinfectant manufacturers sense their big chance to sell their products, advertising for the chemicals with promises like removing “99.9% of bacteria – including EHEC germs!” The fact that these chemicals destroy our natural biological balance is never mentioned. Nor is it mentioned how the chemicals harm the environment and can cause allergies and eczemas. The Stiftung Warentest, the National Institute for Consumer Health Protection, and the Robert Koch Institute agree: these disinfectants are “fundamentally unnecessary” in normal households.

Regular cleaning with environmentally friendly cleaning solutions is enough for sufficient cleanliness, and is beneficial to you and the environment. When you use barcoo, we’ll inform you immediately if a product has been classified as “unnecessary” by the Verbraucherzentrale Hamburg (the consumer advice center in Hamburg).

Bisphenol A (BPA) is an organic compound with two phenol functional groups. At least that’s what Wikipedia says. Many food containers, cans, beverage bottles, and foodstuffs are made of plastics or plastic lining containing BPA. When you use such products, BPA can potentially be released and cause health risks, such as increasing infertility, and may be linked with diabetes or heart and circulatory problems. Some researchers, on the other hand, don’t agree with that theory. On June 1, 2011, after intervention of the European Union, the last baby bottles made with BPA should be taken off the market. However, BPA is still used in beverage bottles, plastic packaging, and tablewares.

© by inhabitat.com

That’s why we want to give you the opportunity to find out more about the potential dangers and will let you know whether products you’ve selected are BPA-free or potentially contain BPA.

Some products have huge packaging but not much substance. We integrated the results of the analyses of the Verbraucherzentrale Hamburg in barcoo (in Germany). Check out the German post.

X-ray vision for rice

By using flavoring agents many fruits get upgraded to a supposedly higher grade fruit. In this way manufacturers benefit from saving money on their purchases, but consumers are being deceived when, for example, cranberries are transformed into cherries or strawberries by using flavoring agents and sugar. Morever, fruit slurry is produced in part by using smaller pieces of fruit. As with meat slurry, fruit purées are combined together, colored and flavored.

Consumer Central Hamburg

Several smoothie and fruit slice manufacturers generate false illusions on the packaging of their products by overrepresenting the more expensive fruits instead. But if you take a look at the small print on the list of ingredients, it’s evident that this fruit often plays a less important role in terms of quantity.

If you scan one of products that have been exposed by the Consumer Central in Hamburg (German), barcoo notifies you and, if applicable, gives you a warning.

Who doesn’t prefer the taste of real, natural fruits to their artificial flavorings? As consumers, our interests are naturally different from those of the producers: when 100 kilograms of raspberry yogurt is produced with artificial flavoring, it costs six cents, while producing the same quantity with real raspberries costs about 30 euros. We aren’t trying to discredit anybody, but we want to point out what’s good.

Experts of the Consumer Advice Center in Hamburg performed a series of foodstuff analyses and has released a list of approved foods that don’t contain artificial flavoring. Since we at barcoo think this information is valuable, we’ve gone and integrated it into our database. Our rationale? Because consuming too much artificial flavoring has the following drawbacks:

Obesity: artificial flavoring stimulates the need to eat more.

Standardized flavors: many foodstuffs are over-flavored, which effects the our sense of taste. Unadulterated, natural flavors no longer taste good to children.

A lack of beneficial ingredients: when we consume artificial flavorings instead of actual fruits, we miss out on lots of vitamins and minerals.

If your smartphone runs out of batteries, try using this new fundamental “decoding help” (unfortunately only in German).

This article is only relevant for German readers. It’s about those Clean Labels on food products and that it might mean less transparency often. barcoo in Germany integrated some analysis from one consumer protection organisation.

This blog post is only relevant for our German readers. It’s about the expensive Xmas versions of sweets and that you can find this information now in barcoo.

Happy holidays!