Public `entitled' to organic food option

Organic food is not any safer than conventional food but some consumers choose it for environmental reasons and because they perceive it tastes better, the chief executive of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland has said.

Dr Patrick Wall said yesterday consumers were entitled to have a choice between organic and conventional produce, and he did not share the "extreme" views of Sir John Krebs, chairman of the British government-appointed Food Standards Agency, who has said people were wasting their money by paying more for organic food.

Dr Wall said: "There is no evidence it is any safer than conventional food. People are buying it for a variety of reasons: that it is more environmentally friendly, more wholesome, and is better produced . . . Consumers want organic food and it should be there for them."

Sir John said there was no evidence that organic food was healthier or safer than more conventionally grown produce and in his view, organic consumers were not receiving value for money. His comments were criticised by the Soil Association, which registers organic farmers in Britain. It noted Sir John was a supporter of GM foods and accused him of failing to be objective in the continuing debate over food quality.

Dr Wall, however, said there was room for both intensive and organic farming in Ireland. "The organic sector has done a lot of work to establish farms according to very strict criteria. The produce is more expensive because it's more labour intensive and the yield is not as good." But some people perceived organic animals to have more flavour and some also had concerns about animal welfare, Dr Wall said. "It's like choosing designer clothes. Who's to say designer labels are better than non-designer?"

Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Agriculture, Mr Noel Davern, is to meet representatives today of the Irish Organic Farmers' and Growers' Association, Organic Trust Ltd and Demeter - the three Irish bodies responsible for certifying organic farms.

The meeting was sought after the Minister for Agriculture's decision to introduce EU regulations on organic produce and to replace the groups' inspection systems with one operated by the department. The groups say the regulations represent a minimum standard and they want to retain their more stringent system.

Under the EU standard, a lamb produced by conventional farming methods would qualify as organic if moved to an organic farm for just two months prior to slaughter. But, according to Mr David Couper, of Organic Trust, it would almost certainly have eaten grass sprayed with weed-killers and could have been wormed, fed with a mixture containing GM soya and dipped with organo-phosphates. "You can't say such a lamb is `almost organic'. "