Assessment of food safety in organic farming

Abstract

Abstract: Public concern about food safety in Europe has grown in response to the BSE scan-dal and problems with Salmonella and Campylobacter, etc. Such health and safety considera-tions are among the most important incentives for buying organic food, and have helped to promote rapid growth in the organic sector. Against this background the present article reviews food safety from an organic perspective. To our knowledge this has not been done previously. A novel definition is introduced which incorporates safety aspects of both the product and the agri-food-system. A Driving force-State-Impact-Response (DSIR) framework, that incorporates recent findings relating to or-ganic products, is employed to analyse processes that control the safety of food. The safety of the agri-food-system is still poorly understood, but an introduction to the concept is given be-cause of its relevance in an holistic organic setting. It is generally felt that safety is greater with organic than with conventional foods, mainly be-cause of the precautionary principle followed in the formulation of organic regulations and in the assessment of food safety. High standards of product safety in organic foods are promoted by a) lower nitrogen applications (which reduce nitrate concentrations), b) the ban on pesti-