Which aspects of health are likely to be affected by our choice of food quality, such as organic food, and how can we investigate this question?

Summary

There are ample examples that the methods used for production of food do make a difference for food composition or other aspects of its quality, and that some of these differences are large enough to make a real difference for the consumer in terms of health. Some of these differences may in fact cause (yet unproven) general differences in food quality between organic and conventional products. However, many of the production methods that benefit food quality are not necessarily restricted to either organic or conventional systems. Understanding the links between production methods and food quality therefore allows improvement of the products of any system, whether organic or conventional. Many of these benefits are linked with what is presently common practice in organic farming, but which is not prescribed by the regulations, and for these the main challenge can be to conserve existing quality benefi ts during further development of the productivity of organic methods.