Study will not put chef off organic

Coral's Michel Miraton claimed he would continue buying organic for ethical reasons as well as for their flavour.

Revelations that organic food is no healthier than conventionally-produced food products will not stop one of the region’s top chefs from buying organic.

Coral Hotels and Resorts corporate executive chef Michel Miraton’s comments follow a recently released study by researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, which looked at studies published over the last 50 years.

One of the report's authors Alan Dangour, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine's Nutrition and Public Health Intervention Research Unit, said: “Our review indicates that there is currently no evidence to support the selection of organically- over conventionally-produced foods on the basis of nutritional superiority.”

The study, funded by the UK's Food Safety Agency and partly published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, concluded that while a small number of differences in nutrient content were found, these were unlikely to contain any relevance for public health.

Coral’s Miraton meanwhile asserted: “There are many more plus points to organic foods besides the perceived health benefits.

“Organic farms don’t consume or release synthetic pesticides, generally use far less energy and produce less waste.”

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Miraton said, despite the results of the study, customers and chefs would continue to buy organic products for their flavour and for ethical reason.

“I think diners will continue to choose organic foods for environmental reasons and the lack of artificial processing uses, as well for the taste,” he remarked.

“Some diners who choose organic ingredients solely on the nutritional benefits may turn away from them; I don’t think this will be the case with the majority who make a conscious choice to buy and eat organic.”

Organic ingredients continue to offer value-for-money, despite being 10–40% more expensive than conventionally-produced products noted Miraton.

“For the extra taste they bring to my dishes, for the environmental benefits, all of this is worth the extra cost,” he asserted.