Nutritional quality and safety of organic and low input food and effects on livestock and human health (subproject 2)
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Intuitively, consumers expect organic food (and ‘low input’ alternatives/ substitutes) to have a higher nutritional value, to be healthier, or simply to be safer or less risky. The effects of organic and ‘low input’ production methods on food quality and safety and finally on livestock and human health are therefore scrutinized in experiments under subproject 2. |
Wheat, potato, cabbage, onion and lettuce were chosen as model crops, complemented by some work on feed crops and dairy production as the main livestock model. It was shown that high input (conventional) crops have higher levels of protein and vitamin E (wheat), carotenoids (potato, cabbage, lettuce) and alkaloids (potato) whereas organically grown crops tend to have more phytic acid (wheat), volatile metabolites (potato), phenolic compounds (potato, cabbage), glucosinolates and vitamin C (cabbage).
Not well designed ‘low input’ methods in wheat production, which omitted either pesticides or mineral fertilizers, resulted in the highest levels of undesirable compounds (e.g. mycotoxin loads). However, work in the first three years also showed that the relative impact of adopting organic and low input production methods on food quality and safety may change over time (e.g. because of long-term effects on soil characteristics and/or changes in plant and animal varieties/breeds used).
Milk quality survey
An extensive milk quality survey of different dairy production systems in Denmark, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Italy demonstrated that milk from organic and low input, grazing-based dairy systems has significantly higher levels of the nutritionally desirable unsaturated fatty acids (the omega-3 fatty acids, vaccenic acid and conjugated linolenic acid) compared to milk from conventional production methods. Similar results were obtained with fat soluble antioxidants like α-tocopherol, β-carotene, lutein and zeaxanthine where organic and other grazing-based production systems were better than conventional ones.
Risks of organic and outdoor livestock management
In order to assess potential risks of organic and outdoor livestock management, the pathogen shedding of pigs was studied. Results indicate that, compared to pigs reared indoors, pigs reared in organic and other outdoor systems are more likely to come into contact with Salmonella and to develop immunity, resulting in pathogen shedding being reduced both on the farm and at slaughter.
Animal health status
Still not very conclusive are the results of two work packages which investigate the effects of organic, low input and conventional feeds on animal health status. One study showed no significant effect of chloro-choline chloride (CCC) on pig reproductive health. According to the second study organic wheat and vegetables seem to improve the immunological status of rats, but many interactions between the sex and the age of the animals occurred.
For a more detailed description of work under subproject 2 see Leifert et al., 2007.
Reference
Leifert, C., Rembialkowska, E., Nielson, J.H., Cooper, J.M., Butler, G., Lueck, L. (2007) Quantifying the effect of organic and ‘low input’ production methods on food quality and safety and human health. In: Niggli, U. et al. (Eds) (2007): Proceedings of the 3rd International Congress of the European Integrated Project Quality Low Input Food (QLIF). FiBL, Frick, Switzerland
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