"Es kann als gesichert angesehen werden, und dazu bedarf es keiner Aufklärung: Ernährung ist tödlich!
Denn jeder, der sich lange genug ernährt hat, ist bislang gestorben. Wer hingegen aufhört sich zu ernähren, kann zumindest nicht an den Folgen der Ernährung sterben."
Prof. Harald Förster, Universität Frankfurt

Apples taste good, they are low in calories, high in dietary fibre and contain many vitamins and minerals. That makes them an ideal food, actually. However, most apples available in stores were produced in large plantations with the help of modern technology and chemicals. Furthermore, most growing areas are situated in the vicinity of industrialized centres, where they are exposed to pollutants from smokestacks. In unfavourable wind conditions they reach the plantations and are deposited on the fruits.

The magazine ÖKO-TEST investigated how pollutants are best removed from apples. Is washing effective or is it better to rub fruit with a cloth? How many vitamins are lost through peeling?
The result: rinsing apples briefly does not remove contaminants. Rubbing with a dry cloth or a hard vegetable brush is more effective. Rubbing a smooth-skinned Delicious apple removes 100% of lead, while only two thirds of lead are removed from a rough-skinned Boskoop apple. However, only 50% of the lead contained in apples is on the skin.

Apples are sprayed from flowering to harvest with a series of insecticides against pests such as spider mite, blossom weevils, aphids, caterpillars and others. Furthermore, fungicides are used against fungi, herbicides to control weeds and growth regulators for optimum development.  

The test investigated how these substances are best removed and which parts of the fruit contain most contaminants. The result: anti-mould agents sprayed on apples to preserve them during transport penetrate the skin and reach the pulp after some time. 95% of pesticides are deposited on the surface of the apples. These chemicals cannot be washed or wiped off. For this reason, the test also investigated how many vitamins and minerals are lost if the apples are peeled. After all it is generally assumed that the peel contains most of the apple’s valuable ingredients.

The test results revealed that between 60 and 80 percent of vitamin C is contained in the pulp. Those who peel their apples therefore lose only one third of the healthy substances. The balance for potassium is even more favourable – an average of 80 percent of this mineral is contained in the pulp and remains after peeling.