International Congress BIOLOGICAL PRODUCTS - Gruppo di ...

NEED FOR RESEARCH AND APPROPRIATE ANALYTICAL TOOLS FOR ORGANIC FOOD CONTROL
Yona Siderer a, and Elke Anklam b
a Interdisciplinary Centre for Technological Analysis and Forecasting, at Tel Aviv University, Ramat -Aviv, Israel
b European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Food Products Unit, B -2440 Geel, Belgium
Organic farming and the organic food market are growing fast. Due to health concerns, environmental consciousness,
social status considerations and other reasons, consumers are interested in the products of organic farming. At the same
time, they want more information about these products.
Inspection procedures for confirming the origin of products seem to be insufficient and need to be supported by
analytical tools. Not only should the products purchased on the market be checked for their authenticity but also
products used during the various production steps (e.g. fertilisers, soil, animal feed, pesticides). Analytical research
work should accompany the expansion of organic farming and organic food production. This should take into
consideration different climate conditions, the variety of soils and soil constituents, the variety of plants and plants
strains, and husbandry of livestock related to animal welfare. At the same time, the products (vegetables, fruits, milk,
meat, and processed food) should be studied for their own qualities.
Research into agricultural crops with various cultivation methods and the resulting natural or processed food is complex
and lengthy. It is very difficult to compare the contents of nutrients and vitamins, as the constituents of such substances
depend heavily on storage time, conditions and technology. Fast and general answers cannot be given on methods for
verifying authenticity and safety. Attention should be focused on the planning of experiments, taking into consideration
many variable parameters like soil quality, climatic and geographical conditions and crop variety. It is important to
study a large number of samples, to be able to deduce meaningful conclusions from the results of the research. The
research protocol should involve a large enough number of research participants as well. The results of such a
combined study could then be used as analytical tools for assessing organic products. Later on, a farmer or a retail outlet
would be able to add to the label that the product was checked and, e.g., found “clean” of pesticides, or that mycotoxins
were found to be below legal levels after harvesting. These tests would be beneficial for interested customers and for
the organic market sustainability. It should be emphasised that this approach of collaborative structured studies is
preferable to the work of a single researcher wanting to study a particular question of her or his interest (or the
stakeholder’s interest).
Once analytical tools have been developed, firstly for a small number of products, but in higher numbers along the
years, then legislation on organic food products might be changed to include a call for analytical tests to support the
inspection system.
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