Organic Food Quality: Can it exist without Measurement?

Summary in the original language of the document

Abstract - Consumers who purchase organic foods are motivated primarily by the health benefits. What assurances are there that defining organic products based on inputs, methods, and ingredients will meet or exceed consumer expectations if there are no re-quirements to define, measure, and meet product quality standards? The future of the organic industry will depend on understanding and quantifying con-sumer expectations and then defining metrics for assessing organic product quality that satisfies these expectations. After establishing quantifiable product quality targets, the next challenge will be to correlate farming and processing methods so that the product quality criteria and consumer expectations are satis-fied.