Caution, risk of poisoning: There is a massive increase in recalls for chips

Instead of reaching into the potato chip bag, many also enjoy corn or tortilla chips.

Caution, risk of poisoning: There is a massive increase in recalls for chips

Instead of reaching into the potato chip bag, many also enjoy corn or tortilla chips. But quite a few of the products contain plant toxins. More than 20 varieties have already been recalled.

For about two months, there have been an increasing number of recalls of corn and tortilla chips due to an increased content of plant toxins, so-called tropane alkaloids. These can affect the heart rate and the nervous system and cause headaches, blurred vision, dry mucous membranes, drowsiness and nausea, among other things.

As reported by the "Hessische/Niedersächsische Allgemeine" (HNA), among others, more than 20 types of chips are now being recalled because they contain tropane alkaloids. Most recently, it hit the tortilla chips from Ener Bio in the paprika and sea salt varieties. They were available from Rossmann, but have been out of sale for a long time. Alnatura has also had to recall many varieties.

Tropane alkaloids occur naturally in deadly nightshade, henbane and thorn apple. During the grain harvest, however, these can also get into the raw materials (here corn) for the chips.

According to HNA, these 20 types of chips are affected by the recall:

The consumer portal produktwarnung.eu recommends, regardless of the best-before date, not to consume the products mentioned because of the health risks mentioned and to return them to the sales outlets for a replacement.

(This article was first published on Thursday, September 22, 2022.)