Ananova:

CAMBRIDGESHIRE: A leading expert says consumers of organic food are wasting their money if they think they're buying something which is safer or more nutritious than conventionally grown food.

Sir John Krebs, chairman of the Government's Food Standards Agency, says there's no evidence that organic food is healthier than conventionally grown produce.

In an interview with BBC 1's Countryfile programme, to be broadcast at 11.30am on Sunday, Sir John says he believes people are only getting value for money if they wish to pay for the holistic approach to farming espoused by organic producers.

"They're not getting value for money, in my opinion and in the opinion of the Food Standards Agency, if they think they're buying food with extra nutritional quality or extra safety. We don't have the evidence to support those claims," he says.

Independent scientific tests, commissioned by the BBC, found that conventionally grown carrots were free of pesticides.

Scientists at the Eclipse Scientific Group laboratory in Cambridgeshire extensively tested carrots that they had bought anonymously from British supermarkets.

Three types were examined for pesticide and chemical residues. The carrots tested were an organic British carrot, an organic carrot from abroad and a conventionally grown carrot.

The tests, for more than 40 different pesticide residues known to be associated with carrot production, were negative for all three.

Nigel Gillis, of Eclipse, says: "I think the public will be very surprised. Their perception of organic carrots is that they have no pesticides in and conventional carrots are riddled with them. We've shown with this test that that's not the case."

Sir John adds: "I think the organic industry relies on image and that image is one that many consumers clearly want to sign up to. However, I do think they should be aware of what they're getting when they pay quite a substantial premium in the shops."