To make your food safer, wash all your fruits and vegetables thoroughly in running water, even if they're labelled 'pre-washed' and wait until just before you eat to do this.

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A child of the 70s, I grew up with the backyard vegie patch, bush blackberries and I bought delicious garden tomatoes from the Italian lady up the road. My mum even grew the neighbourhood's biggest strawberries after, quite scandalously, using the water she had soaked our dirty nappies in as a fertiliser.

However, now a mother in the 2000s, I am torn between giving my kids the healthiest, most natural diet I can - much like the one I had - and protecting them from some of the all-natural nasties out there. I am not a particularly cautious mother. Just experienced.

Last year our three-year-old son ingested E. coli bacteria from infected pork. He developed a rare complication called haemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), and spent five months in hospital, had more than 16 blood transfusions and part of his bowel removed, spent eight months on dialysis and is still in kidney and pancreatic failure. He's currently on the list for a kidney transplant.

Now, we don't know whether the meat our son ate was organic or not - it was at a street party for 250 people, and if the meat had been cooked for longer any bacteria would have been killed.

But there's nothing like a life-and-death confrontation with food to make you do your research, and what I found was an eye-opener: food labelled 'organic' or 'all-natural' may be healthier on one hand, but it does not necessarily mean it's 'safer'.

In the effort to make products as natural as possible, and to retain nutrients and keep flavours close to their original form, organic and natural manufacturers often eschew common preservation methods such as pasteurising and adding synthetic preservatives. While this means the environment and consumers are not exposed to potentially hazardous chemicals, it's still important for us to be vigilant with this food and its preparation.

"There is little conclusive evidence to suggest organic foods are safer or better than conventional foods [when it comes to bacteria]," says microbiologist Narelle Fegan, from Food Science Australia.

"If consumers are making a choice about whether to buy organic or conventional foods, then their decision should not be based on [that] assumption." So how do we choose, and what are the dangers?

Food-borne bacteria

In 2007, according to the Australian Government food disease initiative, OzFoodNet, 266 Australians were hospitalised and five died due to food-borne outbreaks. There are five microbes that tend to be the worst offenders: E. coli, Listeria, Salmonella, Campylobacter and a group of viruses called caliciviruses, including Shigella.

In the last decade as the organic food industry has boomed, some critics have warned that organic fruit and vegetables are especially susceptible to bacterial contamination, because organic farming practices favour manure (where bacteria can thrive) as a fertiliser.

It's an argument that seems reasonable at first glance, but has quite a few holes on closer inspection. A United Nations report, "Food Safety and Quality as Affected by Organic Farming", points out that manure is used as fertiliser in conventional as well as organic agriculture, and that although there's no question that animal manure can harbour nasties, "properly treated manure or biosolids are effective and safe fertilisers".

So how do you know if your organic supplier has done the right thing?

The key is certification. Organic certification bodies have strict standards on every process that happens from the farm to your table, including how manure must be composted and how long before harvest it can safely be applied.

Holly Vyner, general manager of the Biological Farmers of Australia (BFA), says that "certified organic [means] the product has been grown, handled, packaged and distributed avoiding risk of contamination to the point of sale." Importantly, she notes, with organic certification, "full traceability is maintained along the chain".

Dairy

As heavenly as raw milk fans say it tastes, unpasteurised milk should be avoided, to be on the safe side, because food-borne bacterial outbreaks have been linked with raw milk products. Pasteurisation involves heating raw milk to 72°C for 15 seconds to kill any bacteria, and in Australia all milk sold must undergo this process. However, anti-pasteurisation crusaders like Arabella Forge from Real Milk Australia assert that pasteurisation reduces milk's nutritional value and that "basic modern hygiene practices ensure the safety of raw milk."

Thankfully, there's a middle ground - organic dairy. There are many organic dairy farms scattered throughout the country that raise their cows on pasture and that produce high-quality milk without risking human and environmental wellbeing. Look for organic dairy items in health food stores and some supermarkets.

Pesticides

Pesticides are a controversial subject when it comes to our food. Regulatory body Food Standards Australia New Zealand has set maximum residue limits in foods to protect consumers. However, some experts argue there's still a risk, as there may be a long lag time between ingestion and illness (as with asbestos) or an unanticipated 'cocktail effect' when different substances combine.

The kicker is organic foods can also be produced using pesticides - albeit naturally occurring ones. For example, pyrethrum (made from the painted daisy) is commonly used by many home gardeners and is acceptable in organic production by the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service. But insecticides made from pyrethrum have been linked to tumours in animals and are known to trigger asthma and heart attacks.

One way to reduce any pesticide-related risks is to do what your mother told you: wash before you eat. According to the Better Health Channel Victoria, washing produce will remove 80 to 99 per cent of pesticide residue. And forget using specialised washes. A US study found there is "little or no difference between tap water or using a fruit and vegetable wash in reducing residues of...pesticides."

Preservatives

A preservative (in food, drink or cosmetics and toiletries) is an ingredient that prevents microbial growth in a product in order to extend its shelf life beyond what it would be naturally. Preservatives stop the bacterial nasties, but there is a trade-off, as preservatives can cause a range of food intolerance reactions such as headaches, diarrhoea or skin rashes. They are also quite difficult to avoid. For example, synthetic chemicals called propionates are among the most common preservatives added to bread, cereals and fruit juice, foods that we have almost every day.

One way to avoid preservatives is to choose foods clearly labelled 'preservative-free'. Shane Heaton, nutritionist and spokesperson for the BFA has another idea - go organic. "There's a lot of information out there about what certain food additives might do - organic simply makes the risk negligible," he says.

Remember, food and drink products are safe for consumption without preservatives - as long as they're used before their ingredients break down. So take careful note of the use-by date, and be aware that many natural 'health' foods have a shorter shelf lives; soy milk, for example, needs to be consumed within three to four days, whereas dairy milk lasts about five to seven days. Neglect that little date, take your health into your own hands.

At the end of the day, you need to be just as informed about your organic food choices as you do about your conventional ones. As for my family? Despite the fact that a specialist who treated our son in intensive care confessed he never lets his children eat hamburgers, we refuse to fear our food. Instead, we choose to fill ourselves with information, make wise decisions and live, taste-fully, free.

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Kimberley Parker is an Australian journalist living in Canada, whose family enjoys produce from a close-to-home, community-supported organic farm.