Organic versus conventional – a comparative study on quality and nutritional value of fruit and vegetable juices

Abstract

The study presents a comparison of some nutritional values of juices made from organic and conventional apple, pear, blackcurrant, carrot, beetroot and celery. Higher soluble solids content (SSC) for organic juices than for conventional ones was recorded for blackcurrant (14.9% and 12.5%, respectively) and beetroot (12.3% versus 8.3%). The highest organic acids content was noted for blackcurrant (3.7 g malic acid 100 g− 1), whereas the lowest was for celery (0.57 g 100 g− 1 on average). Higher organic acids content was shown in apple, pear, and especially blackcurrant grown organically. Amounts of juice NH4-N content were lower in organic vegetable juices than in conventional ones. The conventional farming method favoured greater NO3-N accumulation for beetroot (846 mg NO3-N kg− 1 f.w.) than for organic juice (229 mg NO3-N kg− 1 f.w.). The data showed the organic juices to have polyphenols and ascorbic acid contents similar to, and antioxidant activity slightly higher than, conventional juices.