Summary of Counter-Arguments:
| - The risks associated with E. coli and other dangerous micro-organisms are not higher in organic foodstuff. - Furthermore in many cases, organic standards related to manure and soil management go further than governmental codes of good agricultural practice, thereby, offering additional protection for consumers. |
Details of Counter-Arguments:
Organic food is as safe to consume, if not safer, than any other kind of food. As cited above, organic products contain significantly lower levels of pesticide residues and other harmful substances than conventional products. The message that organic foods are more dangerous is another argument spread by Dennis T. Avery who claims that “Organic foods have clearly become the deadliest food choice." [1] These arguments are rather poorly substantiated. For instance, one argument says that "consumers of organic food are also more likely to be attacked by a relatively new, more virulent strain of the infamous salmonella bacteria." This statement was based on a Consumers Union study in 1998 showing that "premium" chickens had higher levels of salmonella than regular supermarket chickens. But the statement forgets to mention that the premium chickens were not organic. One common argument is the presumed higher risk of E. coli poisoning due to the use of cattle manure to fertilize crops in Organic Agriculture. Again, this argument forgets that manure is also used widely in non-organic agriculture. Conventional farmers commonly apply tons of raw manure as well with no regulation whatsoever. Organic standards set strict guidelines on manure use in organic farming: either the manure must be first composted, or it must be applied no later than 90 days before harvest (or 120 days in the US organic regulation). The evidence shows that there is not more risk of pathogen contamination of organic food than non-organic food. For instance, a survey conducted by the PHLS [2] of over 3,000 ready-to-eat organic vegetables found no evidence of dangerous microbes that might cause disease in humans, “indicating that overall agricultural, hygiene, harvesting, and production practices were good.”
In particular, the risk associated with E. coli is not higher in Organic Agriculture. Indeed, E. coli bacteria are found everywhere – in cups of tea, on our hands, in the air, and in our intestines. Most of the E. coli strains are harmless, but types of E. coli called VTEC (Verocytotoxin-producing E.coli) produce potent toxins and can cause severe disease and even death in humans. The most common VTEC strain is O157. It is thought that the misuse of antibiotics in modern agriculture and medicine led to the rapid development during the 1970s and 1980s of more aggressive strains of E. coli that are immune to therapeutic drugs. The most common cause of E. coli O157 infection for humans is eating contaminated foods, particularly inadequately cooked minced beef (often in the form of beef burgers) and milk. The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) identify the main source for human infection with E. coli as meat contaminated during slaughter. Therefore, application of manure to the fields is not the main cause of contamination.
Organic food must meet all quality and safety standards that apply to non-organically produced food. But the standards for manure and soil health in organic farming often go further than the government codes of good agricultural practice. For instance, according to a United States Department of Agriculture review, grass-fed and hay-fed cattle, which are required in many organic systems, seem less likely to produce the very toxic E. coli O157:H7 strain than grain-fed cattle. There are many ways in which Organic Agriculture promotes animal health, thereby reducing the level of pathogens in animal feces. Soils of organic farms exhibit much higher levels of biological activities, which lead to less persistence of harmful organisms due to competition with soil-born micro-organisms.
The occurrence of mycotoxins in agricultural production depends on many factors, not only on the use versus non-use of fungicides. The main factors determining the occurrence of mycotoxin producing organisms (weather, site, and storage conditions) influence organic and conventional farming systems in the same way. Organic farms do not use fungicides, but have other advantages when it comes to preventing mycotoxin contamination (e.g., cereal varieties with longer stems can be used and growth regulators are banned, which leads to a lower infection risk of the ears). More regular mechanical soil cultivation (used for weeding), and more complex crop rotations on organic farms reduce the concentration of inoculum. More stable cell walls in the plant tissue due to the lower fertilization level in organic farms reduce the possibility for infections with toxin producing fungi. The restrictions on importing fodder components reduce the risk of mycotoxin contaminations established under foreign climatic conditions. Moreover, in conventional agriculture, many fungicide applications actually increase mycotoxin levels; in some cases, application of a fungicide only partially controls the target fungal pest, placing the fungus under stress and triggering its normal defense mechanism, including the production of mycotoxins. In other cases, a fungicide may work well on certain species of fungi, but opens an ecological window for other species of fungi that, in turn, may produce dangerous mycotoxins. All in all, organic farming is not more endangered by risk of contamination of products with mycotoxins than other farming systems [3]. This is also the conclusion of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) which states that, "studies have not shown that consuming organic products leads to a greater risk of mycotoxin contamination."
[1] Avery, Dennis T. 1998c. The Hidden Dangers in Organic Food. American Outlook Magazine 1(3):19-22, Fall.
[2]Public Health Laboratory Service, The Microbial Examination of Ready-to-Eat Organic Vegetables from Retail Establishments, June 2001.
[3] See H. M. Paulsen and F. Weißmann (2002) and Cummins J (2004).