A recent webinar by Dr. Francisco Diez-Gonzalez, food microbiologist and professor at the Department of Food Science and Nutrition of the University of Minnesota, drew attention to this polarization as part of a discussion on the major concerns often raised relating to the contamination of organic foods with pathogenic bacteria. 

The organic food market is continuing to grow, he stated, noting that the perception of the consumer is very positive towards organic foods in general.

"The consumer continues to demand organic food for many reasons," Diez-Gonzalez said, citing that there is an increased demand for pesticide-free foods, "more natural" foods, fresh foods, "more nutritious" foods and ecologically/environmentally-friendly food.

With that increased demand can come an increased scrutiny.

"The safety issue with organic foods-I see this as a very polarized topic," Diez-Gonzalez stated. "From one side we have those that are crying wolf whenever they hear about organic foods and the potential for foodborne disease. On the other side, the consumer assumes that organic foods are inherently safer than conventional."

"This is what we have been dealing with," Diez-Gonzalez added, speaking of experts in the industry. "We are trying to provide some rational middle ground."

Most people agree that organically-produced foods have lower pesticide levels, Diez-Gonzalez stated. He added that these foods-particularly organic meat-also have less antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Heavy metals, natural toxins/mycotoxins and pathogenic microorganisms can be negative aspects, according to Diez-Gonzalez. 

The three major categories with reasons for concern are:

•  Fruits and vegetables
•  Meats
•  Lack of organic disinfectants or sanitizers.

"The concern is that with the limited number of fertilizers allowed by the organic rule, animal manure may be the most widely available and convenient inputs to be used for fertilization," Diez-Gonzalez said in regards to fruit and vegetables. "In addition to that, and not only in organic foods, the inherent weakness of fresh fruits and vegetables is they are not typically processed and are intended to be eaten as they are (fresh and raw)."

The real question at hand is "What is the risk of organic foods as vehicles of foodborne pathogens?" Diez-Gonzalez stated. 

The three approaches used to determine the answer to this question are epidemiological evidence-how many people get sick, how many people will die from the particular food or practice; the presence of pathogens and indicators on foods; and an assessment of current practices (i.e.-the use of manure and the limited number of approved sanitizers).

"This country has one of the best surveillance systems in the world," Diez-Gonzalez said, speaking of a useful tool created by the CDC (www.cdc.gov/foodborneoutbreaks) that enables one to search online for previous outbreaks. Currently, Diez-Gonzalez said, there are over 14,000 outbreaks on record.

But that does not answer the question of how many organic foods have been linked to outbreaks, he added.

"For that you have to dig a little bit more into the literature," Diez-Gonzalez said.

More recently, he added, the first highly-publicized case in which organic practices were implicated was the outbreak of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in spinach in 2006. The case involved nearly 103 hospitalizations, 31 HUS (hemolytic-uremic syndrome) cases and 3 deaths. Traces of the strain were found in wildlife, spinach, environmental samples and a neighboring cattle farm.

"That outbreak has had a major impact on the perception of fresh produce safety," Diez-Gonzalez said, noting it is one of the best-researched cases from which industry experts have learned a lot.

He continued, citing that in 2011, the first confirmed outbreak with organic eggs was reported in Minnesota involving six cases of Salmonella enteritidis. And before that there was an outbreak of E. coli O104:H4 in Fenugreek sprouts in Germany, resulting in more than 4,000 infections and around 50 deaths.

From January through November of 2011, according to the USDA and FDA, the total number of food recalls in the United States was 349- 150 of which were caused by pathogens.Of those, Diez-Gonzalez said, just six were organic food recalls. Two of those six cases resulted from the presence of allergens and four from the presence of pathogens: grape tomatoes-Salmonella; Eggs-Salmonella; Herbal tea-Salmonella; and baby spinach-Listeria monocytogenes.

"We see there are some outbreaks occurring, but we always have to ask ourselves, with organic foods only 3 percent of the current food supply, is this going to change when organic foods become a greater part of the food supply?"

As for the assessment of current practices, Diez-Gonzalez cited that the main recommendation is that manure used as fertilizer should be used composted.

According to Diez-Gonzalez, the Organic Manure Handling Regulations were created in 1999 and were largely based on E. coli O157:H7 and was recognized at the time as having a lack of scientific data available.

"If composting is done properly, we should be controlling human pathogens," Diez-Gonzalez said. "But there is a possibility that pathogens can survive longer than the recommended rule."

The current practices of sanitation should also be assessed.

Diez-Gonzalez explained that food processing plants have to conduct sanitation in two steps: cleaning (removing of soil from surfaces) and sanitation (removing or killing of microorganisms). Typically, he said, the second step could be done physically through heat, steam or even irradiation such as UV light, but the approach that a number of food processors use is chemical.

Organic regulators were then faced with a challenge and made exception for some synthetic substances.

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