You may want to pay more for your Fruit and Vegetables or Grow Your Own in order to go Organic.
I seriously doubt if it is possible to purchase Organic Vegetables.
The facts are:-
DEFRA says that Grower XXXXX in YYY uses PSA100 Standard Compost to grow Organic food supplied to the major 3 Supermarkets and is approved by the Soil Association.
The Composters Association says PSA100 Standard does not ensure purity from Toxic Metals and Weed Killer Contamination.
The Soil Association says it does not know of Grower XXXXX in YYY.
A Notice on the www. says. There is a seminar at Grower XXXXX in YYY attendance costs £56 for further information contact...... THE SOIL ASSOCIATION on tel. xxxx xxxxxx
Here is a Tomato plant grown in contaminated Compost.
The colour difference rendered here is true, growth is weak, I await distortion of the new growth as time goes by.
If you decide to grow your own then there is absolutely no guarantee that any Compost or Growing Bag you buy in, does not contain Toxic Metals or Weed Killer residues. It almost certainly will contain Chemical Fertilisers. Despite the fact that the bag can be legally labelled Organic.
It is virtually impossible to buy in Manure from any source with confidence. Even the keeper of a single Horse on his own land cannot be sure that the Hay he buys in for feed is not contaminated with Persistent Herbicides which are not approved for use on food crops.
Here is a Tomato plant grown in non contaminated Compost.
If you want to pop down to the greenhouse and check for contamination of your Compost here is how to do it.
2.3.3 Methods for Residue Analysis of Plants and Plant Products
High-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) Method
GRM 02.31 has been proposed by the petitioner as an enforcement method for residues of
aminopyralid in plant commodities. The proposed LC-MS/MS method was used to determine
residues of free and conjugated aminopyralid in/on grass and wheat samples from the storage
stability, field trial and processing studies associated with the currently requested uses.
Briefly, ground samples are extracted with 0.1 N sodium hydroxide, releasing bound residues
and hydrolyzing base-labile conjugates to free aminopyralid. The extract is then acidified with
hydrochloric acid and heated to release acid-labile conjugates. Following hydrolysis, the extract
is cleaned up through an anion-exchange solid-phase extraction (SPE) column. The internal
standard, 13C2
15N-aminopyralid, is added to the eluate, and residues are derivatized with butyl
chloroformate to form the 1-butyl esters of aminopyralid for LC-MS/MS analysis. The validated
LOQ is 0.01 ppm for all matrices, and the calculated limit of detection (LOD) is 0.002 ppm.
Method validation data for LC-MS/MS Method GRM 02.31 demonstrated adequate method
recoveries of aminopyralid from barley grain, forage, and straw; grass forage and hay; sorghum
grain, forage, and stover; and wheat grain, forage, and straw fortified at the LOQ (0.01 ppm).
This method also demonstrated adequate method recoveries of aminopyralid at up to 0.50 ppm
for cereal grain, 5.00 ppm for cereal forage and straw, and 20.0 ppm for grasses
Simple really. We used to pick up a bit of well rotted Muck rub it in our hands and sniff it.
