Organic bosses have hit back at comments made by former Food Standards Agency boss Sir John Krebs, calling for less focus on organics in school dinners.
The comments, made in the Guardian newspaper this week, quoted Sir John as saying: “My advice would be not to worry about the organic, but worry about kids having more vegetables.
“If local authorities and schools are strapped for cash, I think money would be better spent increasing the consumption of fruit and vegetables and meals that contain lower salt and lower fat, than specifically spending it on organic,” he said.
However Peter Melchett, policy director with the Soil Association, dismissed the idea there is a greater focus on organics: “His tactic [when Sir John was head of the FSA] was to set up a question that nobody supported in the first place, and then disagree with it. In this case, nobody is focused purely on organics.”
He said he did not disagree with Sir John’s views on getting children to eat more fruit and vegetables, but said there were other considerations as well.
“The question is what’s the best way of increasing children’s fresh consumption while also meeting other objectives, such as environmental sustainability?”
He said the Soil Association’s objective is to encourage schools to source as much fresh produce as possible locally, but it is only aiming for a small proportion of that to be organic. “We want schools to be sourcing 75 per cent of the food they offer to be fresh and unprocessed, 50 per cent of it to be locally sourced, and 30 per cent organic,” he told FPJ.
Melchett pointed out that some schools have pursued local sourcing initiatives and seen the number of children taking school dinners more than double.
“There is a lot of experience that says that sourcing local, good quality and tasty fresh food will provide a pleasurable experience and increase the amount of food that is eaten. In one school in Swindon, we’ve seen the number of children eating school dinners jump from 40 to 200 as a result.”
During his interview, Sir John said there is no scientific evidence that organic food is healthier, either because it contained more nutrients or because conventional foods could contain pesticide residues.
He also criticised campaign groups and the food industry for what he described as distorting scientific evidence to suit their own ends. “If you look, you can always find some experts who are prepared to take a contrarian [sic] view which goes against the mainstream."
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