Organic Agriculture and Food Utilization

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS 90. Food safety: Many aspects of organic agriculture reduce the risks of pathogens (zoonoses), mycotoxins, bacterial toxins and industrial toxic pollutants, compared to conventional agriculture. However, some other aspects potentially increase them. Reduced resistance to antibiotics in zoonotic pathogens indicates a better prognosis for patients if an infection does occur. For natural plant toxins, the content in plants appears to systematically be 10 to 50 percent higher than in conventional plants. However, this is in a range of concentrations where these compounds have no toxic effect and may even benefit human health. 91. Pesticide poisoning: This is an area where very substantial health problems have been documented, especially among farmers and their families. Pesticide poisoning causes some 20 000 deaths per year globally and an average of 11 days wages lost due to illness, per farmer per incidence, in some areas. Even symptom-free workers often exhibit biomarker changes indicating increased risk of diseases, including Parkinson’s disease. With the present level of knowledge, elimination of such horrible conditions, which can be achieved on a short timescale, is the quantitatively single most important benefit of organic farming in terms of human health. Still, long-term occupational exposure to copper also increases the risk of Parkinson’s disease, but not as much as exposure to synthetic pesticides. 92. Pesticide residues: The levels in organic products are consistently 4 to 5 times lower than in conventional products. However, no definitive causal connection with harm to consumers has ever been demonstrated for food produced in accordance with general (conventional) food safety rules. Errors and accidents can cause contamination with harmful levels of pesticides, but this risk is eliminated when no pesticides are present. Across the different safety risks in both systems, the best managers achieve much better standards than the average producers, and the occurrence of serious hazards is so low that no significant differences have been demonstrated between production systems. 93. Food quality: Consumers generally appreciate that food is authentic and trustworthy and produced with care for them and the environment. So reduced food additives and pesticide residues, good traceability and emphasis on animal welfare all support the perception of organic food as being of high-quality. Differences in taste between organic and conventional food products are strongly affected by interaction with local aspects and therefore show few general trends. Only poultry (broiler) produced according to the organic standards results in a clearly differentiated taste compared with mainstream conventional products. 94. Nutritional adequacy: In developing countries, organic agriculture has several advantages for the provision of nutrients, such as higher Zn/phytate ratio and better amino acid composition in cereals. Also, a more balanced diet due to the greater diversity of organic rotations, including legumes and various types of vegetables, and the need for animals on each farm provide important nutritional benefits. In developed countries, nutritional value is much more difficult to determine. However, the higher levels of plant secondary metabolites and conjugated fatty acids in milk may provide important protection against cardiovascular disease, cancer and other diseases known to be influenced by diet. 95. Human health: Epidemiological studies have shown better health scores among consumers of organic food for immunological characteristics and weight control, and similar benefits have been reproduced in animal studies, supporting a possible causal role of the food production system. 96. Post-harvest operations: Higher activity of plant defense mechanisms in organic plants reduces the losses during transport and storage. The preference for local products and short supply chains also reduce the loss of quality during transport. 97. Pollution of drinking water: Organic farmers have substantially higher economic incentives than conventional farmers to establish and maintain sufficient capacity for collection, composting and incorporation of animal and human wastes as valuable fertilizer. This is particularly important in areas where sanitation is not provided or standards not enforced by the authorities. Such measures will also substantially reduce contamination with nitrates and phosphorus. There is little evidence that these minerals have any harmful effects on humans, if the drinking water is free of pathogens, except by promoting blooms of toxic algae. 98. Pollution of the environment: Persistent pesticides (such as DDT) have damaged wildlife globally and are still being used in many developing countries. Organic agriculture protects the local environment against all types of pesticides and has potential to benefit the global situation if the proportion of land under organic management becomes large enough to reduce the total use. Pollution with nitrate and phosphorus are major causes of eutrophication. Organic farms leach lower levels of phosphorus into drainage water than conventional ones. For nitrate, the loss from organic farms tends to be slightly lower than conventional, except when comparing organic outdoor pig production with conventional indoor production. However, recent data indicate that organically managed soil may be more efficient at denitrification, releasing most of the nitrate into the atmosphere as harmless N2. If this is a general trend, the benefits of organic farming are much larger than previously estimated

Assessment of current procedures for animal food production chains and critical control points regarding their safety and quality: preliminary results from the Organic HACCP-project

Within the 5th EU-framework project “Recommendations for improved procedures for securing consumer oriented food safety and quality of certified organic foods from plough to plate“(QLRT-2002-02245; “Organic HACCP”), a systematic analysis was carried out among selected certified organic food production chains, such as eggs and milk but also wheat bread,cabbage, tomatoes, apples and wine, to investigate current procedures of production management and quality assurance. For each of seven quality and safety criteria, such as microbial toxins and abiotic contaminants, potential pathogens, natural plant toxicants, freshness and taste, nutrient content and food additives, fraud as well as social and ethical aspects the information was analysed to identify Critical Control Points (CCPs) and to suggest ways how the control of quality and safety can be further improved. CCPs were defined as the steps in supply chains where the qualities of the final product can be controlled most efficiently. The project had the following overall objectives: i) to provide an overview of consumer concerns in terms of organic food in different European regions, and a conceptual framework for setting future research in perspective; ii) to establish a database of existing procedures and relevant control points for selected organic food production chains, prepared for extension with additional commodity groups and updated procedures; iii) to provide systematic analyses of each selected commodity chain using procedures developed for Hazard Analysis by Critical Control Points (HACCP), for each of seven aspects of safety and/or quality; and iv) to produce and disseminate information material with recommendations for improvements of procedures and control, to the stakeholders involved, and to define the most important research needs on subjects where current knowledge does not yield a sufficiently firm basis for practical recommendations, and disseminate this information to researchers and research policy makers. The new aspect within the Organic HACCP project was thus to improve how consumer concerns are addressed, through the use of the CCP concept for a wide range of criteria, not only safety

Investigations of organic food and health

Numerous studies have attempted to elucidate if there is a difference in the effect on human health, between food produced according to the organic standards compared with conventionally produced food. While many studies support a few general trends of differences in food composition, none have provided any conclusive evidence for differences in the effects on human health. Most of the studies have been inadequate in size or focus to allow any definitive conclusions. The major problem is the complexity of the issue, and the general paucity of knowledge about the impact of food on health, which means that it is virtually impossible to tackle all relevant uncertainties in any one study. Instead a whole range of different types of studies are needed to provide a conclusion. Presently, a study is in progress, which attempts to provide some of the missing key information on this issue. This study comprises controlled cultivation of plants in three different models of growing systems for two years, and feeding rats for 3 generations on diets composed of these plants. It will show if food from different growing systems can result in differences in health of rats, and if so, which aspects of health are affected. However, if differences are found, subsequent studies will be necessary to determine the applicability and possible consequences for human health. Still, together with other existing and planned studies it might soon be possible to determine some of the consequences for human health of the methods used for food production. This could result in increased demand for organic food, and it could at the same time lead to changes in the farming methods in either organic or conventional production systems. In any case, this type of research will improve crucial aspects of the knowledge base, which is needed also in other contexts, to support the efforts to improve food safety and quality

Which aspects of health are likely to be affected by our choice of food quality, such as organic food, and how can we investigate this question?

There are ample examples that the methods used for production of food do make a difference for food composition or other aspects of its quality, and that some of these differences are large enough to make a real difference for the consumer in terms of health. Some of these differences may in fact cause (yet unproven) general differences in food quality between organic and conventional products. However, many of the production methods that benefit food quality are not necessarily restricted to either organic or conventional systems. Understanding the links between production methods and food quality therefore allows improvement of the products of any system, whether organic or conventional. Many of these benefits are linked with what is presently common practice in organic farming, but which is not prescribed by the regulations, and for these the main challenge can be to conserve existing quality benefi ts during further development of the productivity of organic methods

Agronomy as a manipulative tool

The general ecological mechanisms that determine the interactions between availability of re-sources (nutrients, water) and synthesis of defence related secondary metabolites in the plants will be presented. In short, under normal conditions in nature, where growth is limited by a relatively constant availability of nitrogen at a moderate level, plants strike a balance between defence and growth. They use a fraction of resources such as carbohydrate, N and S to reach a genetically determined normal level of defence mechanisms, which will prevent or quickly overcome most types of infections. If the local availability of nitrogen happens to increase (e.g. from decomposition of animal faeces), the growth rate increases, and the balance shifts. The concentration of defence compounds in the plant decreases, and the plant now relies more on compensatory growth and less on resistance as response to infections (Stamp 2003 Q. Rev. Biol. 78, 23-55). While most of this information comes from investigations of wild plants in nature, mainly in the context of understanding the consequences of pollution with nutrients, the same mechanisms appear to operate in agricultural settings. Most of these data are about antioxidants, where high concentrations are required to induce a biological response in human cells. Compounds such as polyacetylenes, alkaloids, furanocoumarins etc. have higher biological impact per molecule, and are more important for the plant defence. In cases where the bioavailability of these defence compounds is similar to or higher than for the antioxidants, a given concentration is likely to result in a stronger impact on human health (Brandt et al. 2004, TIFS 15, 384-393). If a farmer wants to maximise the concentration of a bioactive compound in the crop (or to optimise it, if too high levels are detrimental for food quality or human health), is it therefore important to reduce the fertilisation intensity, in particular to avoid periods with high excess of nutrients such as N. Other ways of manipulating the balance is by partial drying and other methods that impose controlled levels and types of stress on the plants. Existing models relate to bioactive compounds that defend the plant against diseases and pests, including glucosinolates and tannins. Compounds with other physiological roles, such as sunscreens or involved in photosynthesis or signalling (colour, scent), will act differently, so their highest levels may correspond to a different range of resource availability than for the defence compounds (Brandt & Mølgaard 2001, J.Sci. Food Agric. 81, 924-931). This would be the case for most flavonols and carotenoids. Compounds that store minerals, such as phytate, will increase with the input of the mineral up to quite high levels. This implies that existing defined types of agronomic practice, such as those used in organic farming, will have consistent and predictable consequences for concentrations of bioactive compounds in the crop (when the variation due to genotype and climate is taken into consideration). Even though neither system requires the use of a particular amount or timing of nutrients, experienced farmers cultivating plants with or without pesticides will learn how much fertiliser to use and how for their system, creating consistently higher levels of defence compounds in organic fresh plant foods (typically 10-50% more than corresponding conventional) (Brandt & Mølgaard 2001, J.Sci. Food Agric. 81, 924-931). To predict the effect of novel practices or new technologies, the most important consid-eration is therefore how they will affect the resources available to the plant. Based on epidemiol-ogical data, the increase in life expectancy by a doubling of the vegetable intake has been esti-mated to 1-2 years (van’t Veer et al. 2000 Pub. Health Nutr. 3, 103–107). So if the bioactive compounds are responsible for this effect, an increase of 10-50% will increase the life span by 1-12 months. The decrease in yield and thus increase in the cost of raw material is around 30%. If multiplied with the number of people potentially affected, this benefit/cost ratio is much better than for some if the existing food safety measures, e.g. against BSE and trichinosis

Production of Bread Wheat Control of Quality and Safety in Organic Production Chains

This leaflet provides a practical overview for producers and others involved in wheat production and storage, on what can be done at these steps to improve the quality and safety of organically pro-duced wheat, in addition to certification and general food safety requirements. A separate leaflet covers the milling and baking steps, and other leaflets cover other commodities and separate leaflets aim at consumers and retailers

Egg Production and Packaging Control of Quality and Safety in Organic Production Chains

This leaflet provides a practical overview for producers and others involved in egg production and packaging, of what can be done at these steps to improve quality and safety of organically produced eggs, in addition to certification and general food safety require-ments. Other leaflets cover production of other commodities and separate leaflets aim at consumers and retailers

Taste, Freshness and Nutrients Information to Retailers regarding Control of Quality and Safety in Organic Production Chains

This leaflet provides a practical overview for retailers of what is done to secure the quality and taste of seven types of organically produced foods, where improvements are possible, and what the retailers can do to support improvements and ensure the best possible food quality. Other leaflets for retailers cover authenticity and fraud or safety and contamination, and separate leaflets aim at consumers or at production of specific commodities

Taste, Freshness and Nutrients Information to Consumers regarding Control of Quality and Safety in Organic Production Chains

This leaflet provides a practical overview for consumers of what is done to secure the quality and taste of 7 types of organically produced foods, where improvements are possible and what the consumer can do to support improvements and to preserve the food quality after purchase. Other leaflets for consumers cover authenticity and fraud or safety and contamination, and separate leaflets aim at retailers or at production of specific commodities

Safety & Contamination Information to Retailers regarding Control of Quality and Safety in Organic Production Chains

This leaflet provides a practical overview for retailers of what is done to secure the safety and purity of 7 types of organically pro-duced foods, and what the retailers can do to support those efforts and preserve the food safety until purchase. Other leaflets for re-tailers cover authenticity and fraud or taste, freshness & nutrients, and separate leaflets aim at consumers or at production of specific commodities