Retail Price Differences between Packaged and Unpackaged Fruits (Apples) and Vegetables (Tomatoes, Peppers)

Since, according to many scientific studies, price is a very important factor when buying fruits and vegetables, it is interesting to study whether price differences between them occur in retail markets. Because of the discussion regarding sustainability, we performed an observational, orienting study on the retail prices of frequently bought packaged and unpackaged fruits and vegetables (apples, tomatoes, and bell peppers) in the Munich area in February and March 2022. We also differentiated between organic and non-organic produce. The relationship between the type of packaging (packaged versus unpackaged) and the retail price (EUR/kg) was determined by means of correlation coefficients, and we examined whether unpackaged products were more expensive than the packaged variants. The results differed for the organic and non-organic variants of the products, as well as among the individual fruit and vegetable varieties. We found a tendency towards unpackaged products being more expensive than packaged fruits and vegetables, in three out of four cases for the non-organic and two out of three cases for the organic products. For all cases, single products and single cost values were observed where the opposite was found.