The whole story
statement from Ökotest
Dear porridge friends,
Following the publication of the Ökotest article in summer 2019, we received many inquiries. Of course, we were also shocked at first - especially because we work with highly responsible partners in production and supply chain and produce in Germany. This is precisely why examining the test results and their interpretation was our highest priority.
Transparency towards our customers and loyal fans is our greatest concern and offering high-quality, wholesome foods is our passion. For this reason, you will find a clear overview of all the important information and test results that we obtained in our research here.
If you have any further questions about our products, quality, analyses, etc., please feel free to contact us at any time.
Your Caro & Tim, 3Bears founders
Timeline: from publication to statement
July 25, 2019
publication
In July 2019, the magazine “Öko-Test” reported on a test of our product Dreierlei Beere and rated it as unsatisfactory.
July 29, 2019
This is what our founders say about the Ökotest
In 2016, we founded 3Bears with the motivation to bring delicious porridge products to market. We were disappointed that all the industrial products from the supermarket always contained so much sugar. From the beginning and up until today, principles such as transparency and naturalness have been at the top of our list. That's why we develop the porridge varieties in our own kitchen, sweeten them only with dried fruit, produce them in Germany and regularly visit the mill from which we get our oat flakes in person. At 3Bears, the customer does not pay for a "marketing scam", but quality Made in Germany.
The Ökotest results hit us all the harder and left us surprised, shocked and angry. Just a few hours after the birth of our son, we - like many of our fans and customers - stared at the lines that classified our Dreierlei Berre variety as unsatisfactory.
A thorough study of the subject matter, the subjective evaluation, the actual values and analyses - together with our internal quality assurance, our producer, the mill and an independent laboratory, quickly made us breathe a sigh of relief. 3Bears Dreierlei Berry is absolutely flawless and the traces of the pesticides used (common in conventional cultivation) are minimal. We don't want to go into detail here, but the Ökotest article did leave a bitter aftertaste - what can you expect when you compare almost exclusively organic products and very few conventional products for "pesticide residues"? Important criteria such as the use of industrial sugar, sulphur or even flavourings were not included in the test, for example.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our retail partners and all of our loyal fans and customers from the bottom of our hearts for their trust, goodwill and encouragement. We work with great passion every day to offer you wholesome, delicious and high-quality oat products.
15 AUGUST 2019
The test results
Following the Ökotest report, we had the ingredients of our entire range analyzed in detail by both our producer and an independent testing institute. You can find the assessment of the test results here:
pesticides
Öko-Test only evaluates the number of pesticides or growth regulators detected in traces. This is a very subjective measurement criterion and has no relevance for pesticide contamination of a food and in this case has no health relevance. Some of the values determined are at the detection limit, but these are still counted in the number. The pesticides/regulators together make up a -2 grade downgrade. An arbitrary extra deduction is made for pirimiphosmethyl. This downgrade is hardly comprehensible from a scientific perspective. All values determined are well below the legally permitted limit (for the main ingredient, oats). The legal limit is always defined with a large safety margin, so that lifelong, daily consumption is completely safe. The traces determined are sometimes factors below the legal limit for oats.
Mineral oil components:
There are currently no legal limits for MOSH/MOAH. We have therefore used the MOSH/MOAH recommendations of the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) as the basis for the assessment. The MOSH values determined here are significantly below the BfR's recommended limits. The values determined have no health relevance whatsoever! The MOAH fraction in mineral oils, which is certainly to be assessed critically, was not detected in this product. MOSH analysis is still associated with numerous uncertainties, which Öko-Test does not address, but rates this snapshot as "significantly increased" and thus deducts 2 points.
Other components
The packaging is food-safe and offers very good protection against external influences (humidity, oxygen) in order to keep the product in perfect sensory condition. However, the packaging is only rated negatively based on one criterion, "chlorinated compounds". The packaging is made of a PE-PET composite. This is used very often in the food sector and is without exception harmless to health. The qualitative evidence of chlorinated compounds could therefore only have been identified via the printing ink (outside). No statement was made about the quantity.
Due to the ingredients list containing pineapple syrup and pineapple fruit powder, ÖKO-Test criticized the claim “no added sugar” and gave this legally correct statement a 2-star rating. Legally, this claim is permissible, but there can be different opinions on this from a nutritional point of view. In our view, the test uses a one-sided assessment standard for a perfectly good food product. The overall assessment of “unsatisfactory” cannot be derived from the facts. It is dubious and does not contribute to preventive consumer protection, but instead leads to further uncertainty among consumers.
August 22, 2019
Our official statement
We at 3Bears do not agree with the interpretation of the test results and the resulting rating and assure our customers and partners that 3Bears Dreierlei Berry, as well as every other 3Bears Porridge, is a high-quality product in terms of quality and taste, and is absolutely impeccable in terms of food law. Providing our customers with all relevant information is one of our most important concerns, and we would like to always give them complete transparency.
At 3Bears, we have set ourselves the goal of offering delicious and natural food. The ingredients of all 3Bears products are subject to strict quality controls and comply with the applicable legal and health-related requirements. Traces of pesticides were detected in the above-mentioned test, but in such small quantities that this is not considered pesticide contamination according to European legal guidelines and does not pose any health risk. All values determined in this sample are well below the legally prescribed limit values. In accordance with the recommendations of the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), the MOSH values (saturated mineral oil hydrocarbons) determined are well below the recommended limit values. The mineral oil fraction MOAH (aromatic mineral oil hydrocarbons), which is indeed critical to health, was not detected in 3Bears products. 3Bears Porridge can therefore be enjoyed daily by adults and children without hesitation.
January 1, 2020
Contact for inquiries
If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact our customer service at any time:
To the contact form
publication
In July 2019, the magazine “Öko-Test” reported on a test of our product Dreierlei Beere and rated it as unsatisfactory.
This is what our founders say about the Ökotest
In 2016, we founded 3Bears with the motivation to bring delicious porridge products to market. We were disappointed that all the industrial products from the supermarket always contained so much sugar. From the beginning and up until today, principles such as transparency and naturalness have been at the top of our list. That's why we develop the porridge varieties in our own kitchen, sweeten them only with dried fruit, produce them in Germany and regularly visit the mill from which we get our oat flakes in person. At 3Bears, the customer does not pay for a "marketing scam", but quality Made in Germany.
The Ökotest results hit us all the harder and left us surprised, shocked and angry. Just a few hours after the birth of our son, we - like many of our fans and customers - stared at the lines that classified our Dreierlei Berre variety as unsatisfactory.
A thorough study of the subject matter, the subjective evaluation, the actual values and analyses - together with our internal quality assurance, our producer, the mill and an independent laboratory, quickly made us breathe a sigh of relief. 3Bears Dreierlei Berry is absolutely flawless and the traces of the pesticides used (common in conventional cultivation) are minimal. We don't want to go into detail here, but the Ökotest article did leave a bitter aftertaste - what can you expect when you compare almost exclusively organic products and very few conventional products for "pesticide residues"? Important criteria such as the use of industrial sugar, sulphur or even flavourings were not included in the test, for example.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our retail partners and all of our loyal fans and customers from the bottom of our hearts for their trust, goodwill and encouragement. We work with great passion every day to offer you wholesome, delicious and high-quality oat products.
The test results
Following the Ökotest report, we had the ingredients of our entire range analyzed in detail by both our producer and an independent testing institute. You can find the assessment of the test results here:
pesticides
Öko-Test only evaluates the number of pesticides or growth regulators detected in traces. This is a very subjective measurement criterion and has no relevance for pesticide contamination of a food and in this case has no health relevance. Some of the values determined are at the detection limit, but these are still counted in the number. The pesticides/regulators together make up a -2 grade downgrade. An arbitrary extra deduction is made for pirimiphosmethyl. This downgrade is hardly comprehensible from a scientific perspective. All values determined are well below the legally permitted limit (for the main ingredient, oats). The legal limit is always defined with a large safety margin, so that lifelong, daily consumption is completely safe. The traces determined are sometimes factors below the legal limit for oats.
Mineral oil components:
There are currently no legal limits for MOSH/MOAH. We have therefore used the MOSH/MOAH recommendations of the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) as the basis for the assessment. The MOSH values determined here are significantly below the BfR's recommended limits. The values determined have no health relevance whatsoever! The MOAH fraction in mineral oils, which is certainly to be assessed critically, was not detected in this product. MOSH analysis is still associated with numerous uncertainties, which Öko-Test does not address, but rates this snapshot as "significantly increased" and thus deducts 2 points.
Other components
The packaging is food-safe and offers very good protection against external influences (humidity, oxygen) in order to keep the product in perfect sensory condition. However, the packaging is only rated negatively based on one criterion, "chlorinated compounds". The packaging is made of a PE-PET composite. This is used very often in the food sector and is without exception harmless to health. The qualitative evidence of chlorinated compounds could therefore only have been identified via the printing ink (outside). No statement was made about the quantity.
Due to the ingredients list containing pineapple syrup and pineapple fruit powder, ÖKO-Test criticized the claim “no added sugar” and gave this legally correct statement a 2-star rating. Legally, this claim is permissible, but there can be different opinions on this from a nutritional point of view. In our view, the test uses a one-sided assessment standard for a perfectly good food product. The overall assessment of “unsatisfactory” cannot be derived from the facts. It is dubious and does not contribute to preventive consumer protection, but instead leads to further uncertainty among consumers.
Our official statement
We at 3Bears do not agree with the interpretation of the test results and the resulting rating and assure our customers and partners that 3Bears Dreierlei Berry, as well as every other 3Bears Porridge, is a high-quality product in terms of quality and taste, and is absolutely impeccable in terms of food law. Providing our customers with all relevant information is one of our most important concerns, and we would like to always give them complete transparency.
At 3Bears, we have set ourselves the goal of offering delicious and natural food. The ingredients of all 3Bears products are subject to strict quality controls and comply with the applicable legal and health-related requirements. Traces of pesticides were detected in the above-mentioned test, but in such small quantities that this is not considered pesticide contamination according to European legal guidelines and does not pose any health risk. All values determined in this sample are well below the legally prescribed limit values. In accordance with the recommendations of the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), the MOSH values (saturated mineral oil hydrocarbons) determined are well below the recommended limit values. The mineral oil fraction MOAH (aromatic mineral oil hydrocarbons), which is indeed critical to health, was not detected in 3Bears products. 3Bears Porridge can therefore be enjoyed daily by adults and children without hesitation.
Contact for inquiries
If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact our customer service at any time:
To the contact form
Questions and answers:
Are other varieties also affected or contaminated?
The magazine Öko-Test tested our “Dreierlei Berre” variety as part of its test. The test results therefore refer exclusively to this variety. Of course, after this test, we had our entire product range tested by an independent laboratory. You can find all the test results at the top of this website.
Can I safely eat your porridge every day?
All of our products are subject to and meet the high requirements of the German food authorities. The residues detected are well below the strictly defined limits of the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, so you can enjoy our porridge every day without any worries.
