“Nutritional quality and safety of organic food. A review”, by Denis Lairon.

<br>Reaching the food security, nutritional quality and safety, in one of the major challenges for the near future. The French Agency for Food Safety (AFSSA) performed an up-to-date exhaustive and critical evaluation of the nutritional and sanitary quality of organic food This review is based on on the AFSSA report issued and recently published studies. The major point are: <br>1)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; organic plant products contain more dry matter and minerals (Fe, Mg); and contain more anti-oxidant micronutrients such as phenols and salicylic acid;<br>2)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; organic animal products contain more polyunsaturated fatty acids;<br>3)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; data on carbohydrate, protein and vitamin levels are insufficiently documented;<br>4)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 94-100% of organic food does not contain any pesticide residues;<br>5)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; organic vegetables contain far less nitrates, about 50% less;<br>6)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; organic cereals contain overall similar levels of mycotoxins as conventional ones.<br>Thus organic agricultural system have already proved able to produce food with high quality standards. <br><br><br>“Agronomy for Sustainable Development”, Accepted 6 May 2009 ; published online 8 July 2009, <a href="http://www.agronomy-journal.org/">www.agronomy-journal.org</a><br><br><…;