Soon is Valentines Day. But you shouldn’t just grab any pretty bouquet of roses. They contain numerous, sometimes even banned, pesticides. We’ll show you how bouquets from Aldi, Fleurop and Co. perform.
The closer Valentine’s Day on February 14th gets, the more bouquets of roses are sold across Germany. For this reason, the well-known consumer magazine ÖKO-TEST examined rose bouquets for their ingredients in its second issue in 2023. The result is sobering: in three quarters of the bouquets tested, the laboratories found pesticides that are banned in Europe. Here you can find out more about the winner and the many losers of the test.
Of the 21 bouquets of flowers that ÖKO-TEST purchased for testing from discounters, supermarkets or online delivery services, three quarters were contaminated with pesticides that are banned in Europe. The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) counts thiacloprid and carbendazim as such. Thiacloprid is carcinogenic, while carbendazim is suspected of causing genetic defects. Basically, however, no bouquet is completely free of pesticides.
However, there is good news: The test winner, the “Aldi-Flowers Fairtrade Roses (mixed white-pink-red)”, only costs three euros per bouquet. The bouquet rated “good” is one of the cheapest in the test. But here, too, the laboratory detects four pesticides, three of which are classified as questionable. However, there are no banned pesticides in the inexpensive winner’s bouquet.
It’s completely different with Fleurop: the bouquet from the well-known flower supplier, which costs just under 30 euros, contains over 21 pesticides. Ten of them are particularly questionable, and three are even banned in Europe.
Of the 21 bouquets tested, only one was rated “good” and another “satisfactory”. Two more bouquets are “sufficient” but cannot be recommended as they contain pesticides banned in Europe.
The frightening result: 17 of the 21 poorly performing bouquets are only “inadequate” or “unsatisfactory”. When it came to flowers, the experts not only criticized the numerous sprays, but also the lack of transparency about working conditions in the growing countries.
You can now read the detailed test report for one month free of charge at ÖKO-TEST.
