ASSESSMENT OF ORGANIC VERSUS CONVENTIONAL FOOD USING BEST AVAILABLE SCIENCE CONCEPT AND METRICS DERIVED FROM IT

There has been disagreement concerning the safety of conventional food compared to organic food. In this article, we use the concept of Best Available Science (BAS) and Metrics for Evaluation of Scientific Claims (MESC) to compare the risk of pesticides in conventional food with the occurrence of microorganisms in organic food. The results of the study indicate that the occurrence of pesticides in conventional food falls in the Borderline Science group (Judgment or Speculation). In contrast, the consequences of the occurrence of microorganisms fall in Reproducible Evolving Science. Therefore, there is no scientific reason to support a preference for organic food. The article concludes that a preference for organic food is similar to a preference for kosher or halal food.