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BFA Press Release
23rd January 2008
Australian
organic exports to climb on the back of cloned
meat Australian
organic meat exporters say their business could be bolstered by the
US Food and Drug Administration’s recent decision to approve the
consumption of food from cloned animals and their
offspring.
“The decision has
re-ignited a focus on organic – sales of organic beef and dairy
products from Australia could be boosted as consumers in the United
States search for an alternative source of protein and dairy
products,” says Ms Dalene Brook, Business Development Manager of OBE
Beef, Australia’s largest organic beef cooperative.
Australia has the
largest area of certified organic land in the world (approximately
11.8million hectares certified to international standards) due to
vast areas of rangelands certified for organic cattle and fat lamb
production. “Australia has some of the highest standards of food
safety and traceability in the world protecting its primary industry
environment. Australia’s clean and green reputation is highly
regarded and a valuable asset for exporters in markets worldwide,”
says Ms. Brook.
In south-west
Queensland, OBE runs 70,000 certified organic cattle on 7 million
certified organic hectares of land, and is well positioned to
accommodate overseas markets seeking high-grade beef produced to
organic standards. They are among a number of successful livestock
industry groups. Certified organic is one of the few regulatory
systems already in place to guarantee accountability of source in
livestock, amid rising consumer concerns that any cloned meat
introduced on market will not be labelled accordingly (meat from
cloned animals would be identical to a natural source and impossible
to identify).
Spokesperson for Meat
and Livestock Australia (MLA), Damon Whittock says that MLA will
closely monitor the attitudes of consumers and export markets but
that cloned meat was not likely to enter the Australian food chain
in the near future.
“Cloned cattle do exist in Australia (there
are less than 100), but they are incredibly expensive to produce and
used for research purposes. They do not enter the food
chain.
“Food Safety
Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) will make the decisions on the safety
of cloned beef… and consumer attitudes will ultimately determine
whether it will be accepted and hence made commercially viable,” he
said.
BFA spokesperson and
Standards Committee Chair, Dr. Andrew Monk says cloned meat concerns
are the latest in a series of proposed food modification techniques
that stringent standards for certified organic production offer an
alternative to. Reproductive hormones and cloning are prohibited
under the Australian Organic Standard.
“In a world of food
increasingly tampered with in competition for the greatest slice of
the agri-food market, certified organic is becoming a haven for
those in search of naturally produced food,” he says.
“With no planned
requirement that labels identify cloned animal foods, and with the
exemption of labeling of many GM foods, as well as products
utilizing nanotechnology, organic logos such as the Australian
Certified Organic “Bud” will hold even greater importance for
consumers who care about where their food comes from, and how it is
produced.”
Dr. Monk says BFA does not reject the progressive
benefits of technology but takes a precautionary approach in the
interests of human health and safety, while being unrepentantly
focused on consumer concerns and interests.
The BFA has a vision
for the organic industry in Australia - to grow organic food sales
to 10 per cent of the food market in
Australia by 2020. Product
traceability is one good reason to buy organic and assist the
organic industry to achieve its
goal. More information is
available at http://www.bfa.com.au
BFA Press Release,
29 October 2007
Official:
Organic really is better
THE biggest
study into organic food has found it is more nutritious than
ordinary produce and may help lengthen people's
lives.
The
evidence from the $27million four-year European Union-funded project
should end years of debate and is likely to overturn official advice
that eating organic food is a lifestyle choice and that there is no
clear evidence that it is “more nutritious than other
food”.
The study will be
peer reviewed and published over the next 12 months. But already one
conclusion is clear: organically produced crops and dairy milk
usually contain more “beneficial compounds” - such as vitamins and
antioxidants believed to help to combat disease.
Nutritionist and
spokesperson for Australia’s largest organic body, the Biological
Farmers of Australia, Shane Heaton, welcomed the study, saying,
“This adds to the growing body of evidence from around the world
that organic produce not only contains less of the things you don’t
need, but also more of the things you do need in your diet.” “Of
course, organic consumers have known this for years,” Heaton adds.
“This latest research should help everyone else, including some of
our leading official advisory bodies, to be better informed
and
catch up with the organic movement.”
The study found that
organic fruit and vegetables contained between 20 and 40 per cent
more antioxidants, which scientists believe can cut the risk of
cancer and heart disease, Australia's biggest killers. They also had
higher levels of vitamin C and beneficial minerals such as iron and
zinc.
Carlo Leifert,
co-ordinator of the EU-funded project, said the health benefits were
so striking that moving to organic food was the equivalent of eating
an extra portion of fruit and vegetables every day.
"If you have just 20
per cent more antioxidants in every portion of vegetables, then it's
simply a question of maths - eating four portions of organic fruit
and vegetables is the equivalent to eating five portions of
traditional fruit and vegetables," he said.
Researchers grew
fruit and vegetables and reared cattle on adjacent organic and
non-organic sites ona 293ha farm at Newcastle University, plus
other sites in Europe.
“Organic
food isn’t a luxury,” says Heaton, “It’s how food is meant to
be.”
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