Here's a big "ut oh" for hummus eaters: it is now being added to a list of foods that could contain levels of glyphosate, a herbicide that's in the popular weed killer Roundup.

According to the Environmental Working Group, tests were conducted on 37 conventional, or non-organic, chickpea and chickpea-based hummus samples. Nearly 90% of those samples contained glyphosate.

"One-third of the 27 conventional hummus samples exceeded EWG’s health-based benchmark for daily consumption, based on a 60-gram serving of hummus (about four tablespoons,)" according to Alexis M. Temkin, Ph.D., Toxicologist and Olga Naidenko, Ph.D., VP for Science Investigations with the EWG.

One specific sample of hummus had nearly 15 times as much glyphosate as EWG’s standard benchmark, and one of two tests from a sample of conventional dry chickpeas exceeded even the Environmental Protection Agency’s too-permissive legal standard.

All samples were purchased by EWG researchers online or at major food retailers in the Washington, D.C., New York City and San Francisco metropolitan areas, including Aldi, Costco, Giant, Harris Teeter, Safeway, ShopRite, Target, Trader Joes, Walmart and Whole Foods grocery stores.

Glyphosate, otherwise known as Roundup, is classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, as a probable human carcinogen, and in California is recognized as a chemical known to cause cancer. Roundup is the most widely used herbicide sprayed on different crops and during different parts of the growing season.

The EWG isn't suggesting we should not stop eating hummus and other chickpea products. They're just suggesting to choose better options. The study showed that it was possible to manufacture hummus with glyphosate - as some brands contained none at all.

If you'd like to see the results of the tests further, including results of specific hummus brands, you can do so by visiting ewg.org/research/glyphosate-hummus.


 

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