Ascorbic acid content of commercial fruit juices and its rate of loss upon storage

Abstract

Ascorbic acid content of commercial fruit juices and its rate of loss with respect to time and temperature of storage were determined. Ascorbic acid content of commercial fruit juices ranged from 2.4 to 43 mg/100 ml of juice. Storage of commercial fruit juices in closed containers at room temperature for 4 months resulted in ascorbic acid losses ranging from 29 to 41%. Commercial orange juice when stored in open containers in the refrigerator for 31 days lost 60 to 67% of its ascorbic acid while fresh orange juice lost ascorbic acid at the much slower rate of 7 to 13%. Open containers of commercial fruit juice, when stored outside the refrigerator for 10 days, lost 12.5% of their ascorbic acid content, while refrigerated for the same period, the ascorbic acid losses amounted to 9%.