FRESHLY-SQUEEZED fruit juice does not lose vitamin content unless it is drunk immediately, says one of Spain's leading consumer organisations, the OCU.
In a review of orange juice across the country's major supermarkets, the organisation tested the vitamin C content in each the moment it was extracted, a few hours later, then again at intervals of 24, 48 and 72 hours.
After this time, it is generally not suitable for drinking anyway, but the OCU says the levels of vitamin C remained the same at every test.
More and more Spanish supermarkets are offering a 'squeeze-your-own' service, where locally- and nationally-produced fresh oranges are piled into a giant machine, customers take an empty bottle, normally available in different sizes, and pump the juice into it themselves.
It is an ideal option for those who do not have juicers at home, and is more popular than the varieties sold by the carton – in fact, an increasing number of Spanish residents are tending to drink fresh juice rather than pre-packaged.
Some concerns have been raised among the public about the amount of additional single-use plastic this relatively new system generates, since as yet, no supermarket has a 'return' service for empty bottles, and reusing these after rinsing them out is strongly discouraged by stores – even though it is technically possible as the barcode reading applies to the product, not to individual bottles.
Customers who use the 'squeeze-your-own' machines are urged to reuse bottles for other purposes where they can, and afterwards, deposit them in the 'yellow bin', where plastic, cartons, tins and cans are recycled.
The OCU studied 24 samples in three different branches of each of the eight supermarkets it reviewed – Mercadona, Carrefour, Alcampo, Hípercor, Lidl, Aldi, Día, and Ahorramás.
Its first study addressed what turned out to be unfounded concerns among some consumers – whether the 'squeeze-your-own' machines were hygienic.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com