Food Quality Strategies for enhancing organic food quality

Summary

This Research Topic Review aims to summarise the available knowledge on strategies for enhancing organic food quality. The Review will provide organic advisers with a better understanding of the differences between organic and conventional food quality so that they can support the development of organic farming systems and supply chains that deliver better quality organic food. The Review takes a broad definition of food quality and on the appropriate methods for determining food quality. However, the focus is on the factors that are more or less within the control of the farmer and the rest of the supply chain, and that directly impact on the appreciation or the intrinsic quality of the food as presented to, and eaten by the consumer.
The specific issues addressed by the Review include:
• Consumer perceptions of organic food qualities and the market for organic food
• Organic supply chains and their impact on quality, in the broadest sense
• Environmental quality of systems – although not an intrinsic quality (in the same way as, for example, the vitamin content of food), it is an important quality parameter for organic food
• Food safety
• Crop products – production systems and quality
• Livestock products – production systems and quality
Twenty three Defra funded research projects are reviewed and a total of 355 papers selected from the Orgprints archive (www.orgprints.org) using the search term “organic food quality” have been scanned. Thirty one have been selected for review. Several additional sources have also been identified. In total, 75 sources have been reviewed.