Processed organic food

We are all well aware of how much processed and pre-packaged food is available these days. We are also well aware how convenient it can be at times, and it is quite possible to feed yourself with a huge range of products without ever buying raw ingredients. Just check out the ready meals in a major supermarket.

Some products are highly processed, with a lot of food additives, whilst some are only raw ingredients made into a food product – for example, bread.

Food manufacturers and retailers have seen a market for a whole range of organic products so that purchasers of ready meals and the like can buy an organic equivalent. There are also of course many smaller scale production facilities for items such as jams and chutneys, which can be a valuable addition to retails sales by the producer themselves.

One of the first to be readily accepted was baby food; a market driven by parents’ desire to ‘buy the best’ for their children. They see organic baby food as free from many of the possible contaminants (pesticides) and additives that have come under scrutiny and restriction in mass market products.

One of the questions in consumers’ minds is, “does processed organic food contain similar additives as conventional products ?”.

It is important that consumers should have confidence in organic processed foods, and organic standards have been developed for food processing in much the same way as they have for on-farm production.

Conventional food processing has access to a huge range of food additives for enhancing flavour, texture, colour, appearance, consistency, nutrient content, acidity levels, stability, and shelf life.

In contrast, organic food processing has access to a very limited range of additives, and most of these are much more natural, for example beetroot juice as a food colouring (organic of course) and natural (not modified) starches for thickening. The additives which may be used are approved by EU organic legislation and are listed in organic processing standards. Where they are themselves derived from plants or animals, they should also normally be organically produced.

Processors have to employ natural methods such as sterilisation, rather than adding chemical preservatives.

In an ideal world, all the ingredients used in making an organic processed product will be themselves organic. However, derogations to use a conventional ingredient can be obtained if the organic one is simply not available. Use of non-organic ingredients has to be stated on the labelling. What is not allowed is an alternative additive ingredient which is not on the approved list of organic additives.

At the same time there are limits to the proportion of non-organic ingredient that can be used, above which the production cannot be labelled and sold as organic.

There is also rigorous monitoring of production methods, processes and schedules in plants which make organic and non-organic products, to avoid contamination of the organic products.