News

Greenpeace's iconic ship The Rainbow Warrior is coming into London docks to stock up with essential supplies before it heads back out to sea. At Langridge we are proud to have had a long association with Greenpeace if only in helping them feed the volunteers with nutritious organic fruit and vegetables.

The Rainbow Warrior.  Click on image for more information.

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE ORGANIC TRADE BOARD

The Royal Society’s recent report highlights that those consumers who choose to avoid foods containing GMO’s may have unwittingly been purchasing GMO’s due to the large amount of animal feeds that include GM ingredients.  The Organic Trade Board, representing processors within the organic industry, emphasises that organic standards prohibit the use of GM feeds and ingredients and through its certification and inspection procedures, organic is the best choice for those consumers wishing to avoid GMO’s.
 
Furthermore, the OTB recognises that whilst there is an increasing group in the non-organic sector which is campaigning for greater use of GMO’s, the organic sector remains committed to continuing to offer consumers an option for foods which are free from GM and have upheld these standards for many years: they do not intend to stand back and let this benefit become diluted in any way.  Major organic processors want their consumers to know that they are very capable of tracking products from seed to finished product and that these standards help them to differentiate their products.  It is this attention to detail that allows the organic industry to make such claims about sourcing of raw materials.
 
Paul Moore, Marketing Director at Community Foods, who produce the Crazy Jack range of dried fruit, says “we reject the claims of the Royal Society report that GM foods have contaminated our food chain. Crazy Jack brand credibility is built on the integrity and provenance of our sourcing. We are confident that our systems allow us to assure our customers that our fruit is 100% GM free and we will continue to produce to this standard”.
 
He continues “the presumption that GM foods are the answer to food problems is completely unfounded and a mischievous manipulation of peoples fears – Our industry in contrast, welcomes the independent findings of a 4 year review of the food chain, sponsored by the United Nation’s and involving more than 400 international scientists which concludes global hunger is a result more of the power and control of the food system rather than growing enough food, contrary to the claims of the GM lobby.”

Contact Finn Cottle (finn@organictradeboard.co.uk)
or Huw Bowles (huw@organictradeboard.co.uk)
 

Website: http://www.organictradeboard.co.uk/

I think we all should be a bit disappointed by the report by the FSA on Organic Food but also the way in which this report was released to the press. Below I have put the responce to this report from the Soil Association. If any other revelant information comes out I will add it later on. Listen again to Farming Today on Radio 4 from this morning (Thursday 30th July). They interviewed one of the authors of the report, even he did not sound convinced as to how good his report actually was.

Soil Association response to the Food Standards Agency's Organic Review

Responding to today's review on organic food commissioned by the Food Standards Agency (FSA), Peter Melchett, Policy Director at the Soil Association commented:

"We are disappointed in the conclusions the researchers have reached. The review rejected almost all of the existing studies of comparisons between organic and non-organic nutritional differences. This was because these studies did not meet particular criteria fixed by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, which carried out the review.

"Although the researchers say that the differences between organic and non-organic food are not 'important', due to the relatively few studies, they report in their analysis that there are higher levels of beneficial nutrients in organic compared to non-organic foods. For example, the mean positive difference between the following nutrients, when comparing organic to non-organic food, was found in the FSA study to be:

The Soil Association is also disappointed that the FSA failed to include the results of a major European Union-funded study involving 31 research and university institutes and the publication, so far, of more than 100 scientific papers, at a cost of 18million Euros, which ended in April this year .

The European Union research programme concluded that:

•  
  • 'Levels of a range of nutritionally desirable compounds (e.g. antioxidants, vitamins, glycosinolates) were shown to be higher in organic crops'
  • 'Levels of nutritionally undesirable compounds (e.g. mycotoxins, glycoalkaloids, Cadmium and Nickel) were shown to be lower in organic crops'.

In addition, levels of fatty acids, such as CLA and omega 3 were between 10 - 60% higher in organic milk and dairy products, and levels of Vitamin C were up to 90% higher in leafy vegetables and fruits.

There are limited studies available on the health benefits of organic versus non-organic food. Without large-scale, longitudinal research it is difficult to come to far-reaching clear conclusions on this, which was acknowledged by the authors of the FSA review.

Also, there is not sufficient research on the long-term effects of pesticides on human health.
In 2006 the European Commission said that "long-term exposure to pesticides can lead to serious disturbances to the immune system, sexual disorders, cancers, sterility, birth defects, damage to the nervous system and genetic damage."

Organic farming and food systems are holistic, and are produced to work with nature rather than to rely on oil-based inputs such as fertilisers. Consumers who purchase organic products are not just buying food which has not been covered in pesticides (the average apple may be sprayed up to 16 times with as many as 30 different pesticides) they are supporting a system that has the highest welfare standards for animals, bans routine use of antibiotics and increases wildlife on farms.

[Ends]

For further comment and information contact the Soil Association press office:
T: 0117 914 2448
E: press@soilassociation.org

Notes to editors:

The study was part of QualityLowInputFood (QLIF), which was an integrated project funded by the European Commission.
http://www.qlif.org/

Soil Association website:
Wildlife and welfare: http://www.soilassociation.org/Whyorganic/Welfareandwildlife.aspx
Antibiotics: http://www.soilassociation.org/Whyorganic/Welfareandwildlife/Antibiotics.aspx