Organic groups claim that organic food offers more nutrients and fewer pesticide residues. “More of the good stuff we need and less of the bad stuff that we don’t need”, as the Soil Association puts it.
A number of scientific studies have added weight to this view, though others have found no significant difference between organic and non-organic food. The Food Standards Agency warns that “to reach a robust conclusion it is necessary to evaluate the weight of evidence across a range of published papers. Care should be taken over reliance on single papers.”
Future research may clarify the question of health benefits. In the meantime, sales of organic products continue to rise steeply. In 2006 alone, UK sales were up by more than a fifth.
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