Organic food healthier and more intensively inspected—but not magically protected from humans or pathogens

The safety of organic food from biological contamination takes a hit in a story published Wednesday, March 4, by the New York Times titled “It’s Organic, but Does That Mean It’s Safer?” It’s important to look at what organic farmers are already doing for human health with the way they farm, and to note the recent additional steps being taken beyond the annual inspections for farms and handling facilities.

The story centers on the USDA certification for organic processing of two Peanut Corporation of American plants. Products from the plants are so far linked to nine deaths and 677 reported cases of salmonella infection in 45 states since September 2008. Nearly 3,000 products have been recalled, including some with organic labels.

The story explores how organic consumers are reacting to this news, especially people who have always assumed that organic foods would not be at risk for pathogen contamination. So far, there has been no reported illness from organic products manufactured at the two plants in Georgia or Texas.

The story raises an important set of questions which requires distinctions between health, nutrition, safety and risk. Rodale Institute Farm Manager Jeff Moyer was eager to speak to the broad set of issues involved. He has special interest in consumer understanding of organics in the US due to his role as chair of the USDA’s National Organic Standards Board.

I walked over to speak to Jeff in his office. He laid things out like this:

• Organic agriculture uses life-giving production practices that yield sustainable levels of healthy crops that are demonstrably more nutritious than their conventional counterparts in very specific ways. Certified organic farms do this without using toxic materials (routinely used in conventional agriculture), meaning they are producing food and economic good without contributing to agricultural pollution from these materials.  Thanks to them, all of us—organic consumers and everyone else—enjoys a reduced risk of negative environmental, climate and human-health impacts.

   

• The same safety standards and inspections apply to all food processed in the US.  There are federal, state and often county requirements for food processing, retail sale and food preparation, with enforcement that varies from lax (as in the peanut case) to abusive (as in the case of raw milk in some jurisdictions), but often with enough common sense and responsibility that most food (of whatever dubious quality) comes through to the consumer without pathogenic contamination. Organic food gets no pass just because it’s organic, so what works (or fails to work) for non-organic food applies to the certified food, as well.

  Organic farms and organic processors have additional inspection and documentation, at each step of the way, to ensure that the entire range of organic standards is followed. This means there are more eyes and more attention given to production and handling, a layer and audit trail of process/input material review that conventional agriculture does not have.

  “No other food system in the world is based on the requirement for integrated natural practices the way organic is,” Moyer said.

  He points out, however, that organic standards do not address food safety. That was never the intent, as it is already the being addressed by a patchwork of existing structures and regulations.

• To bolster what organic inspectors already do in terms of checking on extensive organic criteria aimed at preserving food quality and traceability, the acting director of the USDA’s National Organic Program decreed Feb. 25 that all organic inspectors—as accredited representatives of the USDA—are also obligated to formally report health or safety violations or visible indicators of potential threat, such as pests or feces. No facility will henceforth receive or maintain organic certification “…when current health or safety inspections have not been granted or renewed for the facility.” 

To repeat, food sold in the U.S. is subject to one standard of food safety regulatory control whether it is organic or not. Organic farming and food already has an additional layer of formal regulation, with the new food safety reporting by organic inspectors providing a further opportunity to detect and stop possible contaminations more often and more quickly.

Said Moyer of Robinson’s request: “It’s true that organic inspectors aren’t trained in food safety, but that doesn’t mean they can’t see and smell. She’s just asking them to report what they find.” ~ Greg Bowman