Growing demand on organic products despite the absence of quality control

The local Daily Star newspaper published a feature today on the growing demand by consumers on reportedly pesticide-free and healthy organic products as compared to their traditional counterparts. In order to get more insight on the subject, the newspaper interviewed a number of nutrition experts who explained their viewpoints. Bassima Rida, for example, said it is “difficult to determine if such products are really organic in the absence of market control.” Likewise, the president of the Farmers Association in South Lebanon, Ramez Osseiran, indicated that there is “no way to produce all these amounts of organic products that we see in the shops here, especially when we know that they require special ingredients that we do not have in the soil of Lebanon or even in most lands around the world.” Similarly, the head of the Lebanese Farmers Association, Tony Howayek, explained that since “there is no proper regulation of such goods, anyone can sell them as organic and at high prices.” He disclosed that after a visit by economy ministry reps to the famous Souk El Tayeb market that sells organic products and testing samples of their displayed goods, “they found deposits that made them non-organic. Meanwhile, organic agriculture specialist, Haifa Abbas, considered that while the Italian controlled Mediterranean Institute of Certification (IMC) provides control and certification of organic farming products, “they are not doing their job properly.” She said IMC experts do not make regular visits and that the tests done are not up to international standards. (Daily Star, March 5, 2016)