Abstract:
Quality of vegetables is the sum total of attributes, generally differentiated as follows:
- External features, which are determined by the "EC standard for fruit and vegetables for fresh market products", or by the German "Standard for vegetables for processing".
- Suitability refers to the attributes of vegetables which make them suitable for special purposes.
- Nutritional value is a comprehensive term for all constituents that make vegetables nutritive, digestible and health-promoting; but also undesirable substances.
- The imaginative value, which does not relate to any quantitative magnitude.
The nutritional value seems to be the most important, since - in recent years - it has increasingly become the central point of considerations.
It comprises
- positive constituents, creating a good-quality, nutritive product;
- undesired substances, having a detrimental effect on the value of the product.
Positive constituents that make the good-quality product include:
- Vitamin C. The portion covered from vegetable consumption in the Federal Republic of Germany is as high as 30 % of the total requirement.
- Carotene /provitamin A/. The portion of this vitamin coming from vegetable consumption also is as high as 16%.
- Roughage /crude fibre/. As high as 14 % of the desirable daily per-capita consumption of 20 g are covered from vegetables.
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