Well this argument has been around for ever. Personally when I bite into a delicious red juicy organic tomato, I know it has more of the good stuff than the tough skinned and tasteless variety available from regular growers. It’s logical isn’t it? Dusted with toxic man–made chemicals or grown in thriving, organic and living soils! I know what I choose for my family. Following is an article I found on www.naturalonline.co.uk

Organic shown to contain 40% more antioxidants - November 2, 2007

Early results of a £12 million 4-year study indicate that organic fruit and vegetables contain up to 40% more antioxidants compared to non-organic foodstuffs. There were also higher levels of other beneficial minerals such as iron and zinc.

Professor Carlo Leifert, coordinator of the EU-funded Quality Low Input Food (QLIF) project, said the differences were so marked that organic produce would help to increase the nutrient intake of people not eating the recommended five portions a day of fruit and vegetables. “If you have just 20% more antioxidants and you can’t get your kids to do five a day, then you might just be okay with four a day,” he said. Welcoming the report, the Soil Association said that its findings reinforced a growing body of scientific evidence indicating significant positive nutritional differences in organic food compared to non-organic food. Patrick Holden, Soil Association director said: “For the past 60 years, the Soil Association has sought on the basis of practical observation, underpinned where available by sound science, to show the benefits of sustainable, organic farming to the health of people and the planet. On a far larger-scale, with much greater resources and more precise, modern analytical methods, this EU-funded project builds on what our founder Lady Eve Balfour sought to do on just 200-acres and with a shoe-string budget back in 1939.

“The proponents of industrial, chemical-intensive agriculture dismissed her theories and findings then on the basis of the limited scale and location of the experiment. But today’s growing body of evidence backing her instincts and practical observations comes from dozens of independent scientists from around the world — the early results of the work from the Quality Low Input Food project add to that wider body of work. The Soil Association agrees with Professor Leifert, that “there is enough evidence now that the level of good things is higher in organics.”. Therefore, we challenge the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to now recognise and publicly acknowledge the nutritional benefits of organic food produced through well-managed organic farming systems."

The FSA, which has been censured in the past for its excessively negative stance on organic foods, says it is reviewing the evidence presented by professor Leifert before it makes any announcement.