Pesticide Residues Detected in German Beer: What Exactly Is Glyphosate?

A recent news report about German beer has sent chills down the spines of many German beer enthusiasts. According to reports, this year marks the 500th anniversary of Germany's Beer Purity Law. To verify the purity of German beer, the Munich Environmental Research Institute commissioned a laboratory to test 14 of Germany's most popular beer brands. However, a report published on the institute's website on February 25th revealed that Germany's most popular beers are not entirely "pure." The laboratory test report showed that these beers contained varying levels of glyphosate pesticide residue, ranging from 0.46 μg/L to 29.74 μg/L. According to German regulations for drinking water, the maximum glyphosate content in drinking water cannot exceed 0.1 μg/L.

Germany is the world's second-largest beer producer, producing over 5,000 different types of beer. German beer has almost become synonymous with pure beer. This sudden revelation, following the Volkswagen emissions scandal, puts "Made in Germany" under intense scrutiny once again.

How toxic is glyphosate?

In 1971, Monsanto developed glyphosate, a broad-spectrum herbicide of epoch-making significance in global agriculture. Currently, glyphosate is the most widely used and highest-produced pesticide in the world, consistently ranking first in annual sales value. China is the world's largest producer of glyphosate. Glyphosate is a systemic, conductive, and non-selective herbicide. Due to its lack of selectivity, it is widely used in non-agricultural fields, orchards, roadsides, and forestry. Germany uses approximately 5,400 tons of glyphosate-containing pesticides annually.

According to my country's pesticide toxicity classification, glyphosate technical grade is classified as low-toxicity. Its median lethal dose (LD50) is approximately 5000 mg/kg, while the LD50 of pure sodium chloride is 3750 mg/kg. This means that glyphosate technical grade is less toxic than sodium chloride. To illustrate, a person weighing 50 kg would need to ingest 250g of pure glyphosate to have a 50% mortality rate. Based on toxicological tests and risk factor calculations, the acceptable daily intake for humans is 1 mg/kg of body weight. Therefore, the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment stated that the glyphosate content in these beers does not pose a risk to consumer health. "An adult would have to drink 1000 liters of beer daily to ingest enough glyphosate to be harmful to their health."

In 2005, experts from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization conducted the most recent assessment of glyphosate residue limits. After review by the Codex Alimentarius Commission, a residue limit of 20 mg/kg for glyphosate in dried soybean seeds was published. Global dietary assessments concluded that this limit would not pose a threat to public health. Major agricultural trading countries and regions such as the United States, the European Union, and Japan have all set a glyphosate limit of 20 mg/kg. my country has currently established 11 glyphosate residue limits, with the lowest limit being 0.05 mg/kg for cottonseed oil and the highest being 6.0 mg/kg for wheat.

Conflicting Conclusions Regarding Carcinogenicity

The Munich Environment Institute believes that although the detected levels of glyphosate are very small, the results are worrying because glyphosate is classified as "probably carcinogenic to humans" by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Even at low levels, it could have negative effects on human health.

The IARC is a specialized cancer research agency under the World Health Organization (WHO), primarily conducting and promoting research on the causes of cancer and carrying out epidemiological surveys and research on cancer worldwide. The IARC classifies carcinogens into four groups: Group 1: Carcinogenic to humans; Group 2: Probably carcinogenic to humans; Group 3: Uncertain whether it is carcinogenic to humans; Group 4: Probably not carcinogenic to humans. Group 2 is further subdivided into 2A: Probably carcinogenic to humans and 2B: Probably carcinogenic to humans. In March 2015, the IARC released a report stating that glyphosate is "probably" carcinogenic to humans, classifying it as Group 2A. This conclusion contradicts the findings of the Joint Conference on Pesticide Residues (JMPR). JMPR, an expert working group jointly managed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), found that glyphosate is "unlikely to cause cancer." In January 2014, the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) completed a four-year assessment of glyphosate for the European Union, reviewing all data considered by the IARC and adding additional data. The result was that "glyphosate is unlikely to pose a risk of causing cancer in humans."

In the IARC assessment, tobacco, alcoholic beverages, and Chinese salted fish were classified as Group 1, while many more common everyday items were classified as Group 2, meaning they are likely carcinogenic to humans, including coffee, pickled vegetables, and deep-fried foods. A potential pitfall of the IARC rating is its neglect of dosage. Dosage determines toxicity; higher doses and longer exposure times increase the probability of cancer, but not necessarily. The IARC did not provide a quantitative relationship between the carcinogenic risk of glyphosate and the exposure dose. Therefore, the IARC's assessment of glyphosate's carcinogenicity has been widely questioned.

Therefore, after clearing away the fog, the German beer "pesticide scandal" seems more like a false alarm. However, I would like to remind consumers: beer is good, but consumption should be limited, and you should not overindulge.