Organic foods: are the benefits real?

The British consumer appears to be buying into the organic trend, and supermarkets across Britain look set to expand their organic offerings.

But how many shoppers really know what they are getting, and why are they willing to pay the price for organic produce?, asked a Reuters report. A straw poll at two central London supermarkets showed that consumers who buy organic can generally give clear reasons for their preferences - but what they believe about the organic ideal is not always strictly accurate.

For instance, some trace amounts of approved pesticides can be used on organic products. And about three-quarters of organic food in Britain is not local but imported to meet growing demand.

"The demand for organic food is increasing by about one third every year, so it is still a very buoyant market,"​ said Sue Flock, spokeswoman for the Soil Association, Britain's largest certifying body for organic produce.

The big supermarket chains agree. "(The market for organic) has gone up dramatically,"​ said Jonathan Church, spokesman for the Tesco supermarket chain. "We launched our range back in 1997 with just a couple of hundred products, and now we have 1,100, and that is all in response to customers."​

So what does organic mean? In Britain, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs sets the rules.

Anyone involved in producing organic food must register with an approved certification organisation, which will inspect the grower at least once a year.

"(Buying organic) means you are supporting a system of farming that respects the environment, and you are buying food with proven health benefits,"​ Flook said. "So organic farming aims to avoid the use of artificial pesticides and fertilisers, and no herbicides are permitted."​

Instead, organic farmers rotate crops to maintain soil fertility and seek to keep their animals healthy without routinely using antibiotics.

"There are some instances when we do allow certain sprays to be used on crops, but we do not encourage routine use, and there are only about seven artificial inputs that we do allow under organic standards,"​ Flook continued.

To ensure the purity of organic farming, the organic lobby has been fighting to keep genetically modified crops well away from their fields.

And according to a European Union report obtained by Reuters last month, there is a risk to farms certified as GM-free. Some GM crops are highly likely to crossbreed with organic or wild plants, the report said.

For some consumers, all the effort of keeping organic food distinct is worth it for the flavoor. But not all shoppers think organic food tastes better, and for many, the organic label is just too expensive. "I think it is incredibly overpriced and a consumer rip-off,"​ said London shopper Steven Castledine.

Church said Tesco was working to bring organic prices down, but admitted the food did tend to cost more.

"Customers recognise that organic products are more expensive to produce, more labour-intensive, and therefore they do expect to pay a higher price,"​ he said.

And the organic lobby says there is evidence that such practices give organic food health benefits over conventionally farmed produce. In March the New Scientist magazine reported that researchers had found organic soup had almost six times as much salicylic acid - which helps to prevent hardening of the arteries and bowel cancer - as regular soup.

But official organisations have held back from endorsing such beliefs. DEFRA, the government food and agriculture body, does not make any claims for organic nutritional superiority. "However, there is evidence for the environmental benefits from organic production,"​ a department spokesman said.

The Foods Standards Agency said it thought people should have the organic option, but there was not enough evidence to say that organic foods were significantly safer or more nutritious than conventional farm products.

"As far as we are concerned, a vegetable is a vegetable and a fruit is a fruit,"​ an agency spokeswoman said. "There might be different growing methods using different things in the growing process, but the end result is the same."​

And many shoppers remain sceptical. "I never buy organic because I think the (price) mark-up is ridiculous, and I do not think it is that much better for the environment,"​ said Freya Koepping, visiting London from Germany. "I think it is a marketing ploy and just a craze. We have been eating the same food for thousands of years."​