Hi Jean Louis,

Jean-Louis Tu wrote:
> I was wondering if organic fruits had a higher vitamin content than non
> organic ones, and if there are some tables of analyzes available
> somewhere. Does anyone know? Rex?

Sorry, I have no references for you.  But I run an organic food co-op
and when I started it a few years ago, everything I read says that the
vitamin and mineral content were approximately the same in (then) recent
samples (around 1995).  At that time there were relatively new
California organic standards (1990).  Farms desiring to offer "organics"
have to convert their practices from conventional commerical to organic
operating procedures over a period of a few years.

But there were two other big differences.  One is that the organic
farming practices are quite sustainable, meaning you could farm the same
land for a very long time and instead of being injured or depleted, the
soil would become enriched.  So perhaps if a study was done later, the
soils of older organic farms being more enriched, then some years a
subsequent study will probably show that nutritionally, organic produce
will differ later (speculation).

The second difference is that no/little herbicides, pesticides,
fertilizers derived from toxic items are used.  Anything that is used
must have little/no residuals by harvest time.  While some non-organic
farms have produce with little residuals, most will have small traces of
something (usually undesirable) show up somewhere in their fruit/produce
with a lab analysis.

I can also tell you I have personally known 2 people who work in a
conventional grocery store who handle produce routinely.  Without using
gloves for more than about 1-2 hours, they have terrible skin problems,
presumably from the pesticides and other stuff on the surface of the
produce that they handle.  We have not ever had that problem with the
organic produce we handle, despite the fact that many vegetables are
known to have their own natural toxins - we don't use gloves at all.

regards, roberta
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