Report spotlight on organic food

Many Daily Mail readers will have been bemused recently. On 30 July, they were confronted by a headline reading " Organic no healthier than ordinary food ". Below, Science Reporter Fiona MacRae reported that, " organic food is no more healthy than other food, watchdogs declared yesterday. The Food Standards Agency's ruling, which follows the world's largest study into the subject, will be a huge blow to the blooming organics business. " Next day, the same readers' breakfasts were accompanied by a big banner across the Daily Mail's front page announcing " A cancerous conspiracy to poison your faith in organic food ". Inside, someone called Joanna Blythman wrote: " Despite its obvious benefits for our health and the environment, organic food continues to be denigrated by the political and corporate establishment in Britain. The food industry in alliance with pharmaceutical and big biotechnology companies has waged a long, often-cynical campaign to convince the public that mass-produced, chemically-assisted and intensively-farmed products are just as good as organic foods, despite mounting evidence to the contrary. " The Daily Telegraph offered a similar, if cooler, contrast. " Organic is not healthier, says food watchdog " (30 July) was followed by " It is still better to buy organic " (31 July). The former appeared under the by-line of Environment Correspondent Louise Gray. The latter was penned by someone called Rose Prince, who asserted: " Consumers who have converted to organic will often report that they feel better for a diet of organic food, or that their children News focus thrive on it. But this is anecdotal evidence, of no interest to scientists. " Puzzling for some, no doubt, but these pairs of articles did reflect a genuine problem — whether, and if so to what degree, journalists should discuss other features of organic food while describing a Food Standards Agency (FSA) report specifically devoted to its nutritional content. Although flagged by a headline mentioning the " debunking " of organics, The Times (30 July) tackled the problem in a comprehensive three-page report by including commentaries on other perspectives. " The largest ever review into the science behind organic food found that it contained no more nutritional value than factory-farmed meat or fruit and vegetables grown using chemical fertilisers, " The Times main article stated. " The review was carried out for the FSA by experts from the London School of Hygiene and …