A study by Ava Kutman, a junior researcher at Tartu College of Health Care, has concluded that potatoes grown in the immediate vicinity using conventional farming methods are as pesticide-free as organic food, writes ERR News.
The city of Tartu has committed to providing organic food in schools and kindergartens as much as possible, and this is in line with the country’s overall direction, which stipulates that if at least 20% of the ingredients in meals are grown on organic farms, educational institutions can apply for support from theAgricultural Registers and Information Board. Kutman and her colleagues decided to investigate whether and to what extent organic food in schools differs from conventionally grown food in terms of cleanliness and nutritional value. The researcher studied apples, potatoes and beef.
In order for a product to be called organic, it must meet several criteria. The simplest definition excludes the use of agricultural chemicals, meaning the food is grown without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers.
The research team sent 36 food samples to the Eurofins LVZ laboratory in the Netherlands to search for traces of almost 800 different pesticides. The results were surprisingly good –
no traces of pesticides were found in any of the potato samples, regardless of how they were grown.
However, the situation with apples was not so bright. No pesticides were found on organically grown apples, but the laboratory found traces of pesticides in 94% of conventionally grown apples. The most common one found was captan, which is used to combat fungal diseases. Kutman emphasized, however, that the amount of pesticides found was many times lower than the level allowed in the European Union. This confirms the researcher’s assumption that there is no reason to panic, even when it comes to imported apples, and she noted that if the apple is washed and peeled, there are no traces of pesticides on it at all.
From the range of meat, the researchers chose beef, because it is practically the only available organic meat available to schools. Estonian organic farms hardly raise pigs, and schools cannot afford organic poultry meat. Here too, the generally accepted connection can be observed – organically grown food is significantly more expensive.
Unlike vegetables and fruits, meat was not searched for traces of pesticides,
because they basically do not accumulate in muscle tissue. Instead, nutritional value was analyzed. However, Kutman didn’t reveal the results of this part of the study, because they have not yet been published.
The study revealed a dilemma – although organic farming is a more environmentally friendly way of farming, in the context of school meals this does not necessarily mean that the ecological footprint is smaller. The share of organic food in Tartu schools reaches as much as 80%, and this raises concerns that local farmers will not be able to meet demand throughout the year. This is forcing caterers to look for suppliers outside Estonia. Kutmana noted that school menus already include organic bananas, lentils and rice that are not of local origin. This creates a situation where food is transported thousands of kilometers, even though food grown conventionally on site is just as clean, and leaves a significantly smaller ecological footprint when it comes to the carbon dioxide generated by transportation.
Kutman said that when tasting the soup, no one could tell whether the soup was made with organic or conventionally grown carrots. The researcher said that parents appreciate tasty, varied, healthy and fresh food, and it does not necessarily have to be made from organic products.
Given the result, Kutman called for avoiding extremes when developing a school catering system. On the one hand, organic food is a welcome goal. On the other hand, it should not be achieved at the expense of cost or environmental logic. If conventional food grown in the neighborhood, according to laboratory tests, is as clean as that grown on organic farms, then giving preference to imported organic products is a waste of resources. The researcher added that she does not want to draw strict boundaries that something is bad or good – it is important to find a middle ground.
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