Recently, the director of a daycare center spoke up at an event on food pricing. Her facility had been mandated to offer only organic food. This not only increased costs by a third but also led to significantly more food being thrown away. Could it be that the shelf life of organic food is shorter than that of conventionally produced items? And if so, does this not counteract all efforts to reduce food waste?

What sounds like anecdotal evidence is, in fact, a reality. Organic food, especially fruits and vegetables, is often less durable than conventionally grown products. The main reason is the avoidance of waxes, preservatives, and other processing aids that are frequently used in conventional production to prevent moisture loss, inhibit the growth of bacteria and mold, or suppress sprouting. Pest control during storage and transport also differs significantly between the two types of products.

Furthermore, less efficient plant protection products are available in organic farming. As a result, fungi or insects can attack the crops, and even small, barely visible external damage can reduce storage capacity.

For fresh fruits and vegetables, these differences cause the produce to ripen faster and make them more susceptible to moisture loss, mold, and bacteria. In the case of processed products (sausages, salads, etc.), only a few natural preservatives are allowed in organic goods, which likewise shortens their shelf life. Additionally, organic products are often harvested when they are riper, as they are not optimized for long transports. This can also lead to faster spoilage.

Organic bread often doesn't keep as long as conventional bread, either. While a conventionally packaged sliced bread can last for several weeks, fresh organic bread often lasts only 2–4 days, and rye/sourdough organic breads last 4–9 days. The differences are primarily due to additive regulations. Fewer artificial preservatives, emulsifiers, or other additives may be used in organic baked goods, whereas conventional bread often contains additives that delay mold formation and bind moisture better.

A similar picture emerges for grains and grain products (muesli, flour, etc.), as well as for nuts and dried fruit. Here, pests such as grain weevils and pantry moths occur more frequently in organic products, meaning these items have to be thrown away more often. Conventional products are fumigated with substances like phosphine or sulfuryl fluoride, for example. These gases penetrate deep into packaging and bulk goods, reliably killing all developmental stages of the pests. In contrast, for organic products, only cold, heat, or parasitic wasps are permitted for pest control, along with nitrogen and $CO_2$ as fumigants.

On the other hand, the situation can look different for organic milk, or potatoes and beetroot from organic farming. Organic milk is often heated to higher temperatures. Organic potatoes and beetroot benefit from a firmer tissue structure, higher dry matter, or lower nitrate content, as these properties can make microbial infestation more difficult. Consequently, these products are sometimes more durable than conventional goods.

Last but not least, food recalls occur more frequently with organic products because they contain tropane alkaloids like atropine and scopolamine, or ergot alkaloids. The cause here is a lack of field hygiene. Ergot alkaloids usually originate from ergot fungi that infect grains—preferably rye—but they also occur in bindweed. They are mostly transmitted by weed grasses growing either in the field or on the field margins (roadside verges). Tropane alkaloids come from jimsonweed, henbane, and related weeds. Weeds are often tolerated in organic farming, and if the pressure from poisonous plants is high, the removal of contamination from seeds and ergot fungi after harvest is not always completely successful.

This once again demonstrates that organic products are not automatically more sustainable. This is particularly aggravating because Switzerland, with around 330 kilograms of food waste per person per year across the entire value chain, is one of the frontrunners in Europe. In comparison, the EU average is around 129 kilograms per capita. A third of all food produced in Switzerland is lost, which accounts for about a quarter of the total environmental impact caused by nutrition.