NUTRITIONAL QUALITY AND ACCEPTABILITY OF SELECTED ORGANIC AND CONVENTIONAL FOODS

Dr Chandra Venkatasubramanian Reader and Additional Head Department of Home Science Q M C, Chennai-4

INTRODUCTION
Organic farming is a holistic form of agriculture . The basic principle in organic farming is that any nutrient supplied to plants should be assimilated by microorganisms before they are dissolved in water for easy uptake by the plants. Conventional agriculture is an industrialized system characterized by the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, with an emphasis on maximizing productivity and profitability. Chemical fertilizers may appear to result in faster and healthier growth of plants but they destroy the soil and the eco system.

The nutritional quality of a food refers to both the qualitative as well as the quantitative aspects of nutrients in a food. The acceptability of a cooked food is assessed in terms of overall qualities like colour & appearance, texture, flavour & taste of that food.

Market for organic products is growing at a faster rate (20 percent) as compared to conventional products (5 percent).

The nutritional quality of food grown by organic and conventional methods is a subject of great controversy. This was one of the reasons for the investigator to take up the present study. The prolonged use of chemicals on soil has resulted in human health hazards and pollution of air, water, soil and food. Further the damage to soil structure, natural environment and traditional landscape has forced us to adopt our eco friendly traditional farming system.

OBJECTIVES

To assess the availability of organic food in Chennai city. To assess the awareness and knowledge about organic food among selected homemakers. To compare the cost of selected organic and conventional cereals and pulses. To compare the nutrients present in selected organic and conventional cereals and pulses. To visualize the qualitative difference in selected organic and conventional cereals and pulses with holistic analytical techniques. To compare the acceptability of organic and conventional cereals and pulses in colour & appearance, texture, flavour & taste using standardized recipes.

The nutritional quality of food grown by organic and conventional methods is the subject of great controversy. This was one of the reasons for the investigator to take up the present study. The prolonged use of chemicals on soil has resulted in human health hazards and pollution of air, water, soil and food. Further the damage to soil structure, natural environment and traditional landscape has forced us to adopt our eco friendly traditional farming system.

Hence there is a vital need for revolution through organic farming to ensure food security and food safety.

Descriptive research is utilized for this purpose. Ex-post-facto research is a systematic empirical inquiry in which the scientist does not have direct control of independent variables .

The experimental design adopted for the study is randomized research design. This experimental design not only reduces personal bias but it also helps to draw inferences about causality .The randomized experimental design is one in which the treatments are allocated to the experimental units purely on a chance or random basis .

A survey was conducted with different household units, retail & wholesale shops, supermarkets and research organizations using interview schedule. Direct questions were asked to research scientists, concerned suppliers, farmers, homemakers and the common people about details regarding the source, availability and cost of organic foods.

The food groups selected for the study are organic and conventional cereals and pulses, they are raw rice, whole wheat flour, Bengal gram dhal, whole green gram and black gram dhal.

The organic food samples were collected from Naturagros. These samples are certified by a group of farmers through a network wherein one farmer certifies the produce of another. The food samples and the provisions required for the entire study was procured from the super market to reduce the influence of environmental factors.

A survey was conducted in order to assess the awareness and knowledge about organic food

The tool used for the survey was the questionnaire which consisted of questions regarding the demographic details & awareness and knowledge about organic foods. The sample of hundred homemakers above twenty years of age residing in Chennai city were selected for the survey.

The data collected was analyzed in terms of percentage and mean, F test, one way ANOVA and Duncans multiple range test. The nutrient analysis of selected organic and conventional cereals and pulses was carried out in Shri. A.M.M. Murugappa Chettiar Research Centre (MCRC) and Agro foods limited, Chennai using standard procedures for food samples. The selected nutrients like carbohydrate, protein, sodium and potassium were estimated in both organic and conventional cereals and pulses. The brie value was also read.

From the nutrient analysis it was found that the protein content was high in organic food samples as compared to the conventional food samples. Thin layer chromatography and SDB-PAGE was done.

Circular paper Chromatography

Circular paper chromatography is a qualitative text in order to separate different fractions of soil, compost, human and plant extracts, foods etc. by means of capillary action using suitable filter papers.

Circular paper chromatography

Zonations of Chromatograms of organic and conventional raw rice

Holistic Analysis of Organic and Conventional Bengal Gram Dhal

The above slide clearly shows the presence of spikes in organic raw rice as compared to conventional raw rice, hence it indicates that organic raw rice has superior nutritional quality as compared to conventional raw rice.

Capillary dynamolysis of Organic and conventional raw rice

Capillary dynamolysis allows a salt solution to be absorbed by capillary attraction through a filter paper. It is not analyses but picture forming. This technique is used to study the food quality and to sort out the farming system- organic or conventional.

The visual observation of organic and conventional raw rice in capillary dynamolysis showed that the dispersed bands were intensive in organic raw rice as compared to conventional raw rice, thus corresponding to higher reductivity which is directly proportional to high active principles in plants and a higher nutritive value.

Sensitive Crystallisation of organic and Conventional raw rice

The visual differentiation of organic and conventional raw rice showed that in organic raw rice there were thick crystals formed at the centre, clear growth from centre towards the periphery.Two centres with six main branches of crystals and no crossing over of crystals. In conventional raw rice no thick crystals are formed at the centre, no clear growth from the centre to the periphery, needle shaped crystals are found in the centre and crossing of crystals.

Similar results were observed with organic and conventional whole wheat flour, Bengal gram dhal, whole green gram and black gram dhal

The acceptability of organic and conventional cereals, pulses and cereal and pulse combination was assessed using standardized recipes. Recipes like tomato rice, coconut rice, lemon rice, chapatti. bengal gram dhal sundal, whole green gram sundal and masal vadai were used to assess the acceptability of pulses. The acceptability of cereal and pulse combination was assessed using standard recipes like adai and idli.The above recipes were selected to evaluate and compare the acceptability in terms of colour & appearance, texture, flavour and taste.

The Judging Panel

The testing instrument for acceptability is the panel of human judges who have been specially selected to carry out the specific task of sensory evaluation. In order to avoid errors due to physical, psychological, environmental and individual characteristics, a panel of ten judges were used, rather than a single judge.

The highest score obtained for each item prepared from organic and conventional food was used for comparing the efficiency of the prepared item.

The acceptability of the prepared items were evaluated in terms of colour and appearance, texture flavour and taste on the basis of a descriptive score card. The items prepared from organic and conventional foods were labeled as sample A and sample B and were presented to the panel of judges for evaluation. On the basis of the scores obtained in the three subsequent trials, the acceptability of the organic and conventional foods were compared. The highest score obtained for each item prepared from organic and conventional food was used for comparing the efficiency of the prepared items.

It was interesting to note that there was a significant difference at one percent level in the taste,colour,texture, appearance and acceptability of the cooked product prepared with organic food as compared to those cooked by conventional food. Though the flavour of both organic and conventional cereals did not show a significant difference.

Conclusion
Thus I would like to conclude from the above study that when comparing the nutritional quality and acceptability of organic and conventional cereals it is clearly seen that by holistic analytical techniques and sensory evaluation the organic foods are superior to their conventional counterparts.

Thank you