The organics sector has moved to defend itself in responding to last week’s reports from the Food Standards Agency (FSA), claiming that organic products have little or no nutritional edge over conventional produce.
An independent review commissioned by the FSA showed that there are no important differences in the nutrition content, or any additional health benefits, of organic food when compared with conventionally produced food. The focus of the review, which was carried out by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), was the nutritional content of foodstuffs.
But the organics industry and the media moved to defend the product, with articles in national newspapers and on TV deeming the review unnecessary and outside the FSA’s remit.
Adam Wakeley, joint managing director of Organic Farm Foods, told freshinfo that the FSA had taken a misjudged angle. He said: “They have presented a very one-dimensional view of organics without realising that it is a multi-faceted sector with many reasons to buy, including the environmental reasons and the lack of pesticides - really, added nutrition is last on the consumer’s list of purchasing reasons.
“A lot has been said about the nutrition of organics and I do believe that it is more nutritious than non-organic.
“Initially, I was concerned what this kind of publicity may do for sales but I have been pleased by how responsibly the media have reported this and our orders have been strong.”
On releasing the report, Gill Fine, FSA director of consumer choice and dietary health, said: “This study does not mean that people should not eat organic food. What it shows is that there is little, if any, nutritional difference between organic and conventionally produced food.” She added that the agency’s stance on organic food was neutral.
The study was a systematic review of literature led by LSHTM’s Dr Alan Dangour of the school’s nutrition and public health intervention research unit. The researchers reviewed all papers published over the past 50 years that related to the nutrient content and health differences between organic and conventional food.
But Soil Association policy director Peter Melchett said: “We are disappointed in the conclusions that the researchers have reached... Although the researchers say that the differences between organic and non-organic food are not ‘important’, due to the relatively few studies, they report in their analysis that there are higher levels of beneficial nutrients in organic compared to non-organic foods.”
