For many Germans, chocolate Santa Clauses are an indispensable part of the Christmas season.

However, be careful when buying.

As a study by “Öko-Test” shows, all chocolate Santa Clauses examined are contaminated with mineral oil components.

Only seven of the 23 products tested received a “good” rating.

With these, the mineral oil contamination is only “slightly increased”, so they could therefore be recommended for purchase.

Contamination can result from production and packaging.

The cheapest recommended example is the "Santa Claus in Town Santa Claus Whole Milk", which can be found on the Netto shelves.

Well-known brands such as the "Lindt Santa Claus milk chocolate" or the "Merci Santa Claus fine milk chocolate", on the other hand, were only rated "satisfactory".

The reason for this is the high level of exposure to saturated hydrocarbons (MOSH) in mineral oil components.

Five of the Santa Clauses tested are rated as "poor" because they are contaminated with the particularly questionable mineral oil aromatic hydrocarbons (MOAH), which contain carcinogenic substances.

In addition to the vegan "Rosengarten Santa Claus", the products also include the "Alnatura Whole Milk Christmas Dream", which even exceed the guideline values ​​of nine milligrams per kilogram for chocolate prescribed by the industry itself.

Plastic packaging may be the cause

The causes of the mineral oil components can be varied.

In general, such contamination can occur wherever food comes into contact with lubricating oils.

In the case of chocolate, for example, cocoa beans can be contaminated by lubricating oils on harvesters or when transported in sisal and jute sacks that have been treated with mineral oil.

In addition, high levels of mineral oil substances can also come from packaging made of plastic foil, which, unlike aluminum foil, has “no barrier properties whatsoever”, according to the report.

After all: According to "Öko-Test", the tested chocolate Santa Clauses contain "no significant aluminum residues".

The appetite to exhaust the maximum tolerable intake level according to the European Food Safety Authority would then have to be particularly large.

The report calculates that a child with a body weight of 30 kilograms would have to eat at least 14 and in some cases more than 200 copies of Santa Clauses per week to reach the threshold, depending on the weight of the Santa Clauses.