Nutritional quality and safety of organic food. A review

Abstract

-Food security, nutritional quality and safety vary widely around the world. Reaching these three goals is one of the major challenges for the near future. Up to now, industrialized production methods have clearly shown severe limitations such as a worldwide contamination of the food chain and water by persistent pesticide residues, and reduced nutrient and flavor contents through low-cost intensive food production and/or processing. In line with several published literature reviews, the French Agency for Food Safety (AFSSA) performed under my coordination an up-to-date exhaustive and critical evaluation of the nutritional and sanitary quality of organic food. This review is based on the AFSSA report issued and recently published studies. The major points are: 1/ organic plant products contain more dry matter and minerals (Fe, Mg); and contain more anti-oxidant micronutrients such as phenols and salicylic acid, 2/ organic animal products contain more polyunsaturated fatty acids, 3/ data on carbohydrate, protein and vitamin levels are insufficiently documented, 4/ 94-100% of organic food does not contain any pesticide residues, 5/ organic vegetables contain far less nitrates, about 50% less; and 6/ organic cereals contain overall similar levels of mycotoxins as conventional ones. Thus, organic agricultural systems have already proved able to produce food with high quality standards. I propose also improvements of organic production to achieve sustainable food production for humans in the near future. sustainable agriculture / organic agriculture / human food / nutrition / food safety / contaminants / health

Sustainability of livestock production systems : a comparing conventional and organic livestock husbandry

“…The data is insufficient to conclude on a difference in essential elements between conventional and organic dairy farming. This is in line with Lairon (2010), who concluded that no difference between the husbandry systems in essential elements could be identified due to the low amount of available data.…”

Toxicity of organic supplies for the egg parasitoid Telenomus podisi

“…5 5 1982); if these are taken into account, the benefi ts of organic farming are more apparent. The nutritional quality and the safety of organic food has been well documented (LAIRON, 2010) and this present study helps to understand its safety for natural biological control agents as well. A reduction in the parasitism rate, as an effect from the application of products in organic agriculture, only occurred at the last day of evaluation.…”

“…The continuous and excessive use of chemicals in agriculture has risen great concern with the environment not only because of the high consumption of energy but also due to contamination of food chains and water worldwide (LAIRON, 2010). Therefore, in recent decades, the production and consumption of organic products has expanded (WILLER & KILCHER, 2009).…”

Alimentos orgânicos da agricultura familiar no Programa Nacional de alimentação Escolar do Estado de Santa Catarina, Brasil

“…As análises sobre o uso de alimentos orgânicos mostram benefícios do consumo desse produto aos consumidores, ao meio ambiente e aos agricultores, bem como os limites da produção desses alimentos 12,13 .…”