From The Fall 2002 Issue of Natural Grocery Buyer

Organics More Dangerous? That's Just Horse Manure

The Organic Source
Elaine Lipson

If you follow food safety issues, you may have seen claims that organic foods are more likely to cause food-borne illness than conventionally grown foods. Sometimes these claims even come complete with tabloidlike headlines—"Dangerous Bacteria in Organic Foods!" "Raw Manure in Organic Foods!" "Health Foods Eight Times as Likely to Be Recalled!"

Are organic foods really more dangerous? It's a question consumers may well ask, and retailers must be prepared to answer.

Both conventional and organic foods may harbor bacteria that can cause food-borne illness, but organic food has never been shown to be more dangerous than any other food. The presence of food-borne pathogens is a problem that is not limited to any one food-production system. There is no credible research that shows a greater risk from organically grown foods, according to Consumers Union, publishers of Consumer Reports, in an online response to "Frequently Asked Questions" about its recent study showing that organic foods do have significantly less pesticide residues than conventional foods.

But don't organic farmers use manure on crops? Absolutely—manure is a time-tested substance for building fertile soil and for recycling on-farm materials. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's national organic standard, effective Oct. 21, includes clear regulations for use of manure in organic production, with a specified number of days between final manure application and harvest. Conventional farmers use manure, too—without similar time restrictions.

In fact, organic regulations are leading the way in safe manure use and may influence new regulations in conventional farming, says Katherine DiMatteo, executive director of the Organic Trade Association in Greenfield, Mass. "I believe very strongly that misguided opinions [about safety of organic foods] have revealed the advancements that organic has made in terms of manure and compost use in the farming community," DiMatteo says.

Manure is still not without risk, and must be used responsibly. "In terms of microbiological information, we have seen no evidence that organic produce is any less safe or any more safe than conventionally grown produce," says Caroline Smith DeWaal, food safety director for the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest, based in Washington, D.C. "Microbiological concerns are showing up in all types of produce, imported and domestic, and both organic and traditional growers have to find techniques to ensure safety of manure in growing foods."

Most incidences of the dreaded E. coli 0157:H7, a particularly virulent strain of the common E. coli bacteria, have originated in conventionally raised livestock and spread when meat is ground into hamburger. Factory slaughterhouse and processing practices mix massive volumes of meat, so one sloppy step in the operation, possibly driven by pressure to keep production up and costs down, can mean that hundreds of thousands or even millions of pounds of ground beef become contaminated. The July 2002 recall of 19 million pounds of meat, for example, was estimated to have cost its producer, ConAgra Foods, $10 million. These huge recalls cost retailers, too, in labor, customer confidence and future sales.

Some consumers, as well as those in the organics industry, may still be harboring a vivid memory of ABC broadcaster John Stossel's claim in 2000, on the television program "20/20," that organic foods had been proven to have more dangerous bacteria than conventional foods. Stossel was later forced to apologize on the air for misleading his viewers and admit that, in that incident, no research was conducted for the presence of pathogenic E. coli bacteria, but only for generic strains of E. coli, which are common and do not induce disease.

Resources: Online Consumers Union, www.consumersunion.org Organic Trade Association, www.ota.com Books Is Our Food Safe? Warren Leon and Caroline Smith DeWaal (Three Rivers Press, 2002) The Organic Foods Sourcebook, Elaine Marie Lipson (McGraw-Hill Contemporary, 2001)

As for a recent press release from the Center for Global Food Issues claiming that natural products are more likely to be recalled, a close look shows that the claimant was citing not just organic products, but also dietary supplements of all kinds, as well as foods labeled "natural"—a label that means very little. In both volume of product and seriousness of threats, conventional food recalls significantly outweigh organic food recalls. In volume alone, the recent single incidence of 19 million pounds of ground beef contaminated with E. coli 0157:H7 and distributed nationwide dwarfs all the organic food safety recalls combined. There's no doubt that products of any kind with unlabeled allergenic materials or other problems should be recalled, but this story was misleading and distorted.

What's the bottom line? Learn what organic foods and farming are all about so you can sell organic foods with confidence. Provide your customers with fundamental food safety rules. And finally, take an intelligent, evenhanded approach to risk assessment and tabloid-style scares. Although nothing is risk-free, staying informed will help you manage real risks and debunk exaggerated ones.

Do you have questions about organic foods that you'd like to see addressed in future columns? E-mail them to Elorganic@aol.com.