How organic are Beijing’s ‘organic’ restaurants?(2)

Tribe's Pear and almond frangipane made from organic ingredients. Photo: Li Hao/GT

Israeli lentils with shaved fennel, pickled peppers, pumpkin, spiced yoghurt on mixed grains from Tribe. Photo: Li Hao/GT

Incoming regulations

Recognizing the need for proper regulations, the Organic Food Development and Certification Center of China (OFDC) published a draft proposal for the certification of organic restaurants in May this year.

"There are currently no certification standards for organic restaurants in China," said Wang Yungang, chief engineer of the OFDC. "In order to have credibility and further promote organic food, a national standard is needed to regulate the industry."

The draft published by the OFDC proposed that a restaurant could be certified as organic if it passed a threshold that at least 30 percent of all the items on their menu were produced using only ingredients from certified organic farms.

"We decided on a threshold of 30 percent in consideration of the fact that the organic food industry has only really started developing since 2005, so there are still supply shortages for organic ingredients," said Wang.

Wang added that the draft also had stipulations that required the ingredients to be prepared in a healthy manner in order to be certified.

"We endorse steaming and boiling as healthy methods of preparation, while pickling and grilling are considered to be quite unhealthy," said Wang.

Hu Yunfeng, director of the general office of the OFDC, said that the draft proposal is currently undergoing review from government officials, business owners and food experts from universities and organic food institutions.

"The formal standards will be released at the end of the year, and submitted to the China National Certification and Accreditation Administration for approval," said Hu. "From then on, restaurants who want to be certified as organic can apply to the center."

Does organic actually matter?

Despite widespread belief in China that organic food is safer, healthier and more nutritious, such claims are not fully supported by scientific literature.

A 2006 article titled Organic Food: Buying More Safety or Just Peace of Mind? A Critical Review of the Literature that appeared in the academic journal Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition found that while organic foods contained fewer chemical residues, "the significance of this difference is questionable." As well, although nitrate levels for organic were found to be lower than conventionally produced foods, the authors noted that "whether or not dietry nitrate indeed constitutes a threat to human health is a matter of debate."

Another academic article that appeared in Annals of Internal Medicine in 2012, Are Organic Foods Safer or Healthier than Conventional Alternatives? A Systematic Review, came to similar conclusions. The authors noted that studies comparing nutrient levels between organic and non-organic foods across a number of markers in adults "did not identify clinically meaningful differences."

Fan Zhihong, professor of nutriology at China Agricultural University, said that while most people in China chose organic because they believed it was more nutritious; overseas, the main reason people chose to eat organic was due to concerns over sustainability in conventional farming practices.

Fan previously conducted a survey on why consumers in China chose organic milk, and found the majority said it was because they believed it had better nutrition.

"There are no scientific studies overseas that show organic food to be obviously more nutritious than non-organic food," said Fan. "There are only studies showing that organic food has more antioxidant ingredients than non-organic food."

"In the sense of health, I think eating less food that is prepared by frying, smoking or grilling is more important than whether the ingredients are organic or not."

Yu agreed.

"Only organic ingredients prepared in a healthy way can make it healthy," he said.