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an agricultural method that aims to produce food using natural substances and processes. This means that organic farming tends to have a limited environmental impact since it encourages

goals:

Responsible use of energy and natural resources

Maintenance of biodiversity

Preservation of regional ecological balances

Enhancement of soil fertility

Maintenance of water quality

produced without:

added chemicals,

pesticides,

herbicides,

fertilizers,

antibiotics,

hormones,

food additives

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They cover all stages of production, preparation and distribution (production, storage, processing, transport, distribution and supply).

Separation of processed organic products in time and space from non-organic ones

minimum organic content of 95% of organic agricultural ingredients and strict conditions for the remaining 5% to be labelled as organic using the organic logo

clear rules on labelling and on which products can and cannot use the organic logo

specific limits to the substances which can be added to food and feed and a limited list of approved additives and processing aids to be used in organic production

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They include respect for animal welfare and feeding animals in accordance with their nutritional needs, and are designed to protect the animals' health and environment.

They also help to build public trust as they ensure that organically farmed animals are kept separate from non-organic. Examples:

Abiding by organic principles:

Farmers have to provide 100% organic feed to their animals to market their products as organic

The feed should be obtained from the farm where the animals are or from farms close

Cloning animals and or transferring embryos is strictly forbidden

Growth promoters and synthetic amino-acids are prohibited

Natural methods of reproduction must be used, artificial insemination is however allowed

Animal welfare:

Personnel keeping animals must possess the necessary basic knowledge and skills regarding the health and welfare needs of the animals

Attention to housing conditions, husbandry practices, respect of set stocking densities and minimum surfaces for indoor and outdoor areas

The number of livestock must be limited to minimise overgrazing, erosion, or pollution caused by animals or by the spreading of their manure

Animals should have, whenever possible, access to open air or grazing areas

Hormones or similar substances are not permitted, unless as a form of veterinary therapeutic treatment for an individual animal

The use of immunological veterinary medicines is permitted

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The rules aim at protecting the environment, maintaining the biodiversity and building consumer trust in organic products:

Prohibition of the use of GMOs

Forbidding the use of ionising radiation

Limiting the use of artificial fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides

Prohibiting the use of hormones and restricting the use of antibiotics to only when necessary for animal health

This means that organic producers need to adopt different approaches to maintaining soil fertility and animal and plant health including:

Crop rotation

Cultivation of nitrogen fixing plants and other green manure crops to restore the fertility of the soil

Prohibition of use of mineral nitrogen fertilisers

To reduce the impact of weeds and pests, organic farmers choose resistant varieties and breeds and techniques encouraging natural pest control

Encourage the natural immunological defence of animals

In order to maintain animal welfare and health, organic producers need to prevent overstocking

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Rules on wine, aquaculture and hydroponics

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Rules on wine, aquaculture and hydroponics

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Wine:

has to be made with organic grapes and yeast

prohibition on the use of sorbic acid and desulphurisation

the level of sulphites in organic wine must be lower than their conventional equivalent (depending on the residual sugar content)

Aquaculture:

strict maximum stocking densities

water quality requirements

biodiversity should be respected, and which do not allow the use of induced spawning by artificial hormones

handling minimised to avoid stress and physical damage

organic feeds should be used, supplemented by fish feeds derived from sustainably managed fisheries

Hydroponics:

EU rules do not allow for plants grown hydroponically to be marketed as organic except when they grow naturally in water

fish which are grown in an aquaponics system can be sold as organic if the relevant legislation for organic aquaculture is followed

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Allowed substances in organic production

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Allowed substances in organic production

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Any substance used in organic agriculture to fight pests or plant diseases must be pre-approved by the European Commission → to reduce the use of external inputs.

Processed food shall be produced mainly from agricultural ingredients only (added water and cooking salt are not taken into account). They may also contain:

preparations of microorganisms and enzymes, mineral trace elements, additives, processing aids and flavourings, vitamins, as well as amino acids can be used but only when authorised under organic rules

substances and techniques which reconstitute properties that are lost in processing or storage, that correct any negligence in the processing, or that otherwise may be misleading on the true nature or the products, shall not be used

non-organic agricultural ingredients can only be used if they are authorised within the annexes to the legislation or have been provisionally authorised by an EU country

And above all, any substance listed for use in organic agriculture must be compliant with horizontal EU rules and then thoroughly assessed and approved by the European Commission for use in organics.

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European Green Deal comprises a sustainable food system

Farm to Fork aims to make 25% of EU farming organic

Regulations

organic production rules

prohibition of GMOs

forbidding the use of ionising radiation

no artificial fertilisers, herbicides, pesticides

prohibiting hormones, restricting antibiotics (only for animal health)

crop rotation - important for soil health

rules on livestock

organic principles: cloning, methods of reproduction, feeding, animal welfare

organic feed for the animals

no non-organically raised animals in the same space

animals must be in open air spaces

no hormones or other substances allowed

food chain rules

organic foods cannot be brought into contact with non-organic food

production must be organised to make sure this happens (clear labelling, etc.)

strict rules regarding use of harmful substances (allowed in some cases but very limited)

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The organic logo gives a coherent visual identity to EU produced organic products sold in the EU.

This makes it easier for EU based consumers to identify organic products and helps farmers to market them across all EU countries.

The logo can only be used on products that have been certified as organic by an authorised control agency or body → they have fulfilled strict conditions on how they are produced, transported and sold.

The logo can only be used on products when they contain at least 95% organic ingredients and respect further strict conditions for the remaining 5%. The same ingredient cannot be present in organic and non-organic form.

Certification number and location of production must be shown on the product

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It is compulsory for most organic products and must be displayed according to a specific set of rules. This is to prevent consumer confusion, help maintain trust in organic food and support the authorities in their inspection regimes.

The logo must be used by all pre-packaged EU food products, produced and sold as organic within the EU.

Additionally, the logo can be used by:

imported products where the product conforms to the EU rules on the import of organic goods

non pre-packaged organic products

EU organic products placed on third country markets

as part of information campaigns intended to educate the public about the organics scheme

The logo cannot be used for:

products containing less than 95% organic ingredients

mass catering operations such as restaurants or hospitals

products not in the scope of organic rules such as cosmetics or products from hunting and fishing

products in ‘conversion’ (where organic methods have only just been introduced and there may still be non-organic substances in the soil or animal chain)

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A certification system identifies operators who produce, prepare, distribute or store organic or in-conversion products, import or export such products, or place on the market such products that comply with the rules governing organic production and the labelling of organic products.

Because small farmers individually face relatively high inspection costs and administrative burdens linked to organic certification, a system of group certification is introduced and defined, reflecting the needs and resource capacity of these farmers.

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Vegetarian diets include a few or no animal products. They are not meant for weight loss, unlike the term “diet” implies. Nowadays they are more referred to as plant-based diets.

The degree to which animal products are excluded varies depending on the specific diet adopted:

A lacto-ovo vegetarian diet includes dairy products and eggs + plant-based foods

A lacto vegetarian diet includes only dairy products + plant-based foods

A ovo vegetarian diet includes only eggs + plant-based foods

A vegan diet includes plant-based foods exclusively; individuals following this diet strive to exclude any animal-derived products from their diet and lifestyle

Designations for people who follow mostly a vegetarian diet but occasionally include certain types of meat:

A pescatarian diet excludes all meat except fish, it can include eggs or dairy products

A flexitarian diet is primarily vegetarian but people occasionally eat meat

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Main findings:

Foods associated with a larger reduction in disease risk for one health outcome are often associated with larger reductions in disease risk for other health outcomes.

Foods with lower impacts on one metric of environmental harm tend to have lower impacts on others

Of the foods associated with improved health, all except fish have among the lowest environmental impacts, and fish has markedly lower impacts than red meats and processed meats.

Food associated with the largest negative environmental impacts (red meat) are consistently associated with the largest increases in disease risk.

Analysis:

Dietary choices determine human health and environmental sustainability.

9 of the top 15 risk factors for global morbidity come from poor dietary quality. Diseases associated with poor dietary quality account for 40% of global mortality.

Agricultural food production emits ~30% of glocal greenhouse gases, occupies ~40% of Earth’s land, causes nutrient pollution that alters ecosystems and water quality, and accounts for ~70% of Earth’s fresh-water withdrawals from rivers and groundwater.

5 diet-dependent health outcomes in adults: CHD, type II diabetes, stroke, colorectal cancer, mortality

5 environmental outcomes: GHG emissions, land use, scarcity-weighted water use, and 2 forms of nutrient pollution, acidification and eutrophication.

15 food groups: chicken, dairy, eggs, fish, fruits, legumes, nuts, olive oil, potatoes, processed red meat, refined grain cereals, sugar-sweetened beverages, unprocessed red meat, vegetables and whole grain cereals.

Health outcomes of food groups:

No food associated with a significant reduction in disease risk for one health outcome was associated with a significant increase in disease risk for any other health outcome.

Nuts, minimally processed whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, olive oil and fish are associated with significantly reduced mortality and reduced risk for one or more diseases.

Consuming an additional serving per day of these foods is associated with a significant reduction in risk for 20 of the 34 health endpoints for these foods and no significant change in disease risk for 14 of the 34 health outcomes.

Daily consumption of an additional serving of dairy egg and chicken is not associated with disease incidence for 12 of the 14 health endpoints.

Consuming an additional 30g of refined grain cereals was not associated with a change in disease incidence, although consuming larger amounts of refined grain cereals is associated with increased risk of diabetes. Substituting whole grain cereals for refined grain cereals reduced the disease incidence.

Consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, unprocessed red meat, and processed red meat are consistently associated with increased disease risk.

Sugar-sweetened beverages: increase risk of CHC, type II diabetes and stroke

Unprocessed and processed red meatL increases the risk of the 5 health outcomes!

Of all the foods examined, a daily serving of processed red meat is associated with the largest mean increase in risk of mortality and CHC, type II diabetes and stroke.

Health outcomes of food groups:

Mean scarcity-weighted water use per serving of food produced does not vary between the 15 foods.

Unprocessed red meat had TWICE the water impact of dairy, nuts, processed red meat (smaller serving size) and olive oil.

Minimally processed plant source foods, olive oil and sugar-sweetened beverages consistently have among the lowest environmental impacts for all indicators.

Dairy, eggs, fish and chicken have relative environmental impacts that range from 3 to 40 for GHGs, acidification, eutrophication and land use.

Producing a serving of unprocessed red meat has the highest impact for all 5 environmental indicators, with a relative environmental impact of 16 to 230.

Producing a serving of processed red meat has the second highest mean impact on acidification, GHG emissions and land use and the 3rd highest mean impact for eutrophication.

Consumption of leafy green vegetables is not associated with a reduction in type II diabetes risk, whereas some other vegetable has not.

Rice production emits more GHGs than other cereals because methane is produced when rice paddies are flooded.

For red meats, ruminant meat (beef, sheep, goat) has higher environmental impacts than pork because ruminant meat production uses more agricultural inputs than pork per unit of meat produced and because ruminants emit methane when digesting food.

Associations between health and environmental outcomes:

Foods associated with reductions in mortality consistently have a low averaged relative environmental impact.

Whole grain cereals, fruits, vegetables, nuts and olive oil have an AREI of 4 or less per serving. Fish has an AREI of 14 per serving → also associated with reduction in mortality.

Foods associated with a significant increase in mortality have variable environmental impact.

Unprocessed red meats (AREI = 73) and processed red meats (AREI = 37) have the highest AREIs while sugar-sweetened beverages (AREI = 0.95) have the lowest AREIs.

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Rich in nutrients, such as Vitamin C, iron, magnesium, and phosphorus, with less exposure to nitrates and pesticide residues in organically grown fruits, vegetables, and grains.

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Organic foods contribution to nutritional quality and value:

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Organic foods contribution to nutritional quality and value:

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Introduction.

Organic agriculture does not use synthetic pesticides and fertilisers → organic food has high polyphenol content.

1st hypothesis: considers the impact of the different fertilisation practices on plant metabolism. Due to the fact that synthetic fertilisers offer more bioavailable sources of nitrogen, plant development is accelerated, and all plant resources go to growth purposes and not to the production of polyphenols.

2nd hypothesis: related to the plant exposure to stressful situations resulted from the absence of pesticides (attacks from insects, weeds and plant pathogens) leading to an increase of natural defence substances, like phenolic compounds.

Nutritional aspects of plant and animal origin food products.

The total amount of plant nutrients (specifically nitrogen) is lower in organic compared to conventional farming because it uses natural fertilisers. However, the nutritional value of organic crops is slightly higher than normal ones, especially in phenolic compounds, vitamins and minerals.

Higher carotenoid in some vegetables (sweet peppers, tomatoes, carrots).

Higher levels of proteins and AAs in conventionally produced grain. But the quality of the AAs was higher in the organic products → more essential AAs are available in organic foods.

More antioxidants, more dry matter, vitamin C, secondary substances, total sugars, mineral compounds, essential AAs.

Less beta-carotene, nitrates and pesticide residues.

Organic farming promotes the accumulation of potassium in zucchini.

The concentration of phenolic compounds is 20% higher in organic crops. They are defined as secondary metabolites, are the most widely occurring phytochemical, and have important antioxidant properties.

Organic milk:

50% higher content of omega-3 fatty acids compared to conventional milk because the grass and clover have more omega-3 content fatty acids.

No significant differences in total saturated fatty acid and monounsaturated fatty acid concentrations between organic and normal.

Organic milk has a more desirable fatty acid composition than normal milk, has higher alpha-tocopherol and iron, but lower iodine and selenium concentrations.

Organic milk has superior quality of lipid fractions, essential AAs, vitamin, salt and mineral content, and omega-3 PUFAs, due to a higher content of grass and roughage in the feed of cows.

Meat:

Organic meat has more essential fatty acids, with a higher proportion of polyunsaturated fats, favourable to human health. They also have more omega-3, but not as much as fish.

Eggs:

Organic eggs have a lower quantity of protein, but the biological value of proteins and lecithin content are higher compared to normal ones.

Organic food products and human health.

Organic foods have higher polyphenol content. Phenolic compounds have anticarcinogenic, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant, antihypertensive, immune modulating, cardioprotective, vasodilatory and analgesic properties.

There are few studies related to the actual effects of organic food products on human health.

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A Stanford meta-analysis looked at 237 studies comparing the nutrient content of organic and conventionally grown foods. It concluded that “published literature lacks strong evidence that organic foods are significantly more nutritious than conventional foods.

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Reductions in meat consumption and energy intake are primary factors for reducing diet-related GHGEs.

However, the choice of foods to replace meat was crucial, with some substitutions possibly increasing total diet GHGEs.

High nutritional quality is not necessarily affordable or lowers environmental impact.

Diet sustainability might be increased without requiring drastic food choices like excluding entire food categories.

Avoiding animal products does not necessarily provide health benefits. They are providers of some essential nutrients, so that restrictive and monotonous plant-based diets can result in nutrient deficiencies with negative effects on health.

The harmful impact of animal-based products is only documented for red and processed meat at intakes higher than 50g/day.

Also, the higher rate of mortality and chronic disease is also due to an excessive consumption of refined cereals, fried foods, soft drinks, sweets, and energy-dense foods.

14.5% of all human-induced GHGEs are due to the livestock sector.

In a study, when all meat and dairy foods were replaced by plant-based products, land use was halved, estimated saturated fatty acids intake decreased by 4% of total energy, and total iron intake increased by 2.4 mg/day. But, almost all iron was nonheme iron, known to have a lower bioavailability.

Meat and cheese contribute 40% and drinks (including milk and alcohol) 20% to daily GHGEs.

Eating vegetable protein, carbohydrates and fibre reduces the environmental impact of a diet.

Lower-carbon diets are associated with lower cost but also with lower nutritional quality.

Higher quality diets are associated with both higher cost and higher GHGEs.

But, more sustainable diets had significantly reduced GHGEs and a lower daily cost than the average diets.

Sustainable diets have reduced energy intake and reduced energy density. The energy contribution of starchy foods, fruits, vegetables and nuts is higher than that in the average diest, whereas the energy contribution for meat, mixed dishes and alcoholic drinks is lower.

Study showed that when you decrease the quantity of animal-based products in the diets, there is a lower consumption of total fat, saturated fat, and protein and higher consumption of carbohydrate, total sugar, fibre and fruit and vegetables. It also showed that moving from a high meat-eater diet to a low meat-eater diet could reduce an individual’s carbon footprint by 2.52kg of CO2 per day (for a diet of 2000 kcal per day).

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Meat production has a large carbon footprint.

Water and land pollution: breeding and raising cattle cause major problems with water and land contamination. Rivers, lakes, ponds and reservoirs are polluted. Animal manure pollutes land and water surrounding animal feeds with contaminants like nitrogen, nitrates, phosphorus, antibiotics, pesticides and hormones that pollute land and water.

Air quality: odorous air emissions from animal feeding operations contain compounds like ammonia, hydrogen sulphate, methane and CO2 → they pollute the air. Ammonia can be deposited in surface waters, causing eutrophication (the depletion of oxygen and quick growth of plants and algae in water). Animals produce gaseous pollutants like nitrous oxide and CO2 and methane (has 15 times the environmental impact of CO2).

Soil quality: the enormous demand for grain and feed for animal agriculture can result in soil erosion and topsoil depletion in cropland, affecting soil fertility. Pastureland can suffer from overgrazing when densities of animals are high. Overgrazing causes degradation or erosion of the land due to soil compaction and decreased plant cover. In turn, poor soil quality reduces air quality as dust is carried away by winds.

Water usage: 70% of all water on the planet is used for agriculture and animal farming. The amount of water needed to produce 1 kg of animal protein is 100 times more than that needed to produce 1 kg of grain protein.

Food production: energy is required to grow food for cattle due to the fertiliser and irrigation systems used to produce the food.

The transport of the corn to the feedlot burns fossil fuels and emits pollutants into the air.

The clearing of trees, grass and other natural structures during the building of a farm and livestock operation facilities contribute to GHGs emissions and the deterioration of the environment.

Transport: fossil fuels are used to transport the livestock to slaughterhouses.

The preservation, processing and packaging of processed meats is highly pollutant.

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Pros and cons:

Pros: animal welfare, ethics, the environment, less expensive.

Health.

Cardiovascular disease:

Compared to omnivores, vegetarians tend to weigh less, have lower saturated fat intake, lower total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, and higher fibre intake, they are also less likely to suffer from hypertension.

Overall energy intake is significantly greater from meat-based diets compared to vegetarian or vegan diets → vegetarians/vegans have a lower overall BMI → reduces the risk of obesity.

Cancer:

Eating fruits, vegetables and other items of a vegetarian/vegan diet reduce the risk of cancers of the lung, stomach, oesophagus and mouth.

Red meat consumption is linked with colorectal cancer risk.

Vegetarians and vegans have lower levels of secondary bile acids compared to omnivores. They are potentially carcinogenic → higher levels increase the risk for colorectal cancer.

Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) is a hormone involved in cellular growth and stimulation of growth hormone. It can play a role in reproductive cancer and is affected by dietary intake.

Diabetes:

Vegetarians have a lower risk of developing type II diabetes than omnivores, vegans have less risk than both groups.

Plant-based diets can reduce risk for type II diabetes by one third.

Osteoporosis:

Vegans have less bone density than omnivores and vegetarians

Nutritional benefits: increased intakes of fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, fibre, vitamines C and E, folic acid, potassium, magnesium, copper, antioxidants, and phytonutrients. They have decreased intakes and levels of cholesterol and saturated fat.

Cons: labour exploitation in agriculture, higher demand and prices with low supply, lack of certain nutrients, digestive issues and stomach discomfort.