Are organically grown apples tastier and healthier?
Since 1994 important supermarket chains in Switzerland successfully sell apples from verified organic production. However, in supermarkets customers often ask whether there are, apart from a more environmentally friendly production, objective arguments of inner fruit quality that justify the higher prices of organic apples. In a field study with the ‘Golden Delicious’ cultivar, we harvested fruits of 5 pairs of organic/integrated fruit farms. The orchards within the pairs were less than 1 km from each other and were similar in micro climate, soil conditions and planting system. Maximum distance between the pairs was 180 km. To measure inner fruit quality we investigated at the beginning and at the end of cold storage (i) standard parameters (firmness, sugar, malic acid, mineral elements etc.); (ii) taste parameters by repeated panel tests; (iii) components that are good for human health (phenols, selenium, fibres, vitamin C and E) and (iv) fruit «vitality quality» by holistic approache
