What constitutes the quality of our food? In addition to nutrient content and pesticide residues, the sustainability of food becomes more and more important. Experts from the Swiss Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) have explored different aspects of the quality and sustainability of organic and conventional food in a new dossier.
Organic food should be tasty, healthy, environmentally friendly and produced in a fair manner. The high expectations on the products make it clear that the quality of food cannot be reduced to individual criteria, but must include the entire process from production to the plate.
In the new edition of the dossier “Sustainability and quality of organic food” FiBL’s Regula Bickel and Raphaël Rossier illuminate the various aspects that contribute to the quality of food. The 28-page standard work describes a contemporary, holistic concept for the evaluation of food quality. The differences between organic and conventional food are examined and clearly documented with examples, based on selected aspects and current knowledge. The authors explain the sometimes complex issues in an easily comprehensible manner.
The English language edition of the dossier has been undertaken in co-operation with the Organic Research Centre, with translation by Anja Vieweger and financial support from the Sheepdrove Trust gratefully acknowledged.
