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Recently when buying food, mainly vegetables, I started looking at the nutritional values. Now for some reason the Dutch broccoli has way less protein (~2g/100g) than the German one (~8g/100g). Because of this I started paying attention to this and this seems to be the case with a lot of raw products. The amount vary wildly and I can't seem to find an answer to why this is. I can imagine it varying a little between yields but this seems like an awful lot.

TL;DR

How can nutritional values vary for the same raw product?

-- EDIT - 2016-09-15 --

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║               name                ║    brand     ║     PoS      ║ Country ║ frozen ║ biological ║ energy ║ energie ║ protein ║ Carbohydrate ║ - sugar ║ fat ║ Monounsaturated ║ Polyunsaturated ║ Saturated ║ Dietary fiber ║ salt  ║ price per kg ║ amount ║
║                                   ║              ║              ║         ║        ║            ║ kcal   ║ kj      ║ g       ║ g            ║ g       ║ g   ║                 ║                 ║ g         ║ g             ║ g     ║ euro         ║ g      ║
╠═══════════════════════════════════╬══════════════╬══════════════╬═════════╬════════╬════════════╬════════╬═════════╬═════════╬══════════════╬═════════╬═════╬═════════════════╬═════════════════╬═══════════╬═══════════════╬═══════╬══════════════╬════════╣
║ AH Broc­co­li­roos­jes                ║ AH           ║ AH           ║ NL      ║      1 ║          0 ║ 27     ║ 115     ║ 4       ║ 0.8          ║ 0       ║ 0.3 ║ 0               ║ 0.2             ║ ?         ║ 2.5           ║ ?     ║ 2.07         ║ 450    ║
║ AH Broc­co­li­roos­jes voor­deel       ║ AH           ║ AH           ║ NL      ║      1 ║          0 ║ 20     ║         ║ 2       ║ 2            ║ 2       ║ 0   ║ 0               ║ ?               ║ ?         ║ 3.5           ║ 0     ║ 1.99         ║ 1000   ║
║ AH Bi­o­lo­gisch Broc­co­li            ║ AH           ║ AH           ║ NL      ║      0 ║          1 ║ 27     ║ 110     ║ 3       ║ 0.8          ║ 0.8     ║ 0.7 ║ ?               ║ ?               ║ 0.1       ║ 3             ║ 0.01  ║ 3.58         ║ 350    ║
║ Bon­du­el­le Broccoli                ║ Bon­du­el­le    ║ AH           ║ NL      ║      1 ║          0 ║ 26     ║ 109     ║ 2.4     ║ 2.4          ║ 1.2     ║ 0.3 ║ ?               ║ ?               ║ 0         ║ 2             ║ 0.02  ║ 5.5          ║ 300    ║
║ Bon­du­el­le Broccoli                ║ Bon­du­el­le    ║ Bon­du­el­le    ║ NL      ║      1 ║          0 ║ 26     ║ 109     ║ 2       ║ 2.4          ║ 1.2     ║ 0.4 ║ ?               ║ ?               ║ 0.1       ║ 2.5           ║ 0.03  ║              ║ 300    ║
║ Bon­du­el­le Broccoli                ║ Bonduelle    ║ Jumbo        ║ NL      ║      1 ║          0 ║ 26     ║ 109     ║ 2       ║ 2.4          ║ 1.2     ║ 0.4 ║ ?               ║ ?               ║ 0.1       ║ 2.5           ║ 0.03  ║ 5.17         ║ 300    ║
║ Jumbo Broccoli Roosjes Vriesvers  ║ Jumbo        ║ Jumbo        ║ NL      ║      1 ║          0 ║ 34     ║ 141     ║ 3.8     ║ 2.7          ║ 2.7     ║ 0.2 ║ ?               ║ ?               ║ 0.1       ║ 3             ║ 0.1   ║ 1.87         ║ 450    ║
║ Jumbo Broccoli Roosjes            ║ Jumbo        ║ Jumbo        ║ NL      ║      1 ║          0 ║ 27     ║ 114     ║ 3       ║ 2            ║ 2       ║ 0   ║ ?               ║ ?               ║ 0         ║ 3.6           ║ 0.1   ║ 1.93         ║ 750    ║
║ Jumbo Broccoliroosjes             ║ Jumbo        ║ Jumbo        ║ NL      ║      0 ║          0 ║ 27     ║ 114     ║ 2.9     ║ 0.8          ║ 0.5     ║ 0.7 ║ ?               ║ ?               ║ 0.1       ║ 3.1           ║ 0.1   ║ 6.14         ║ 350    ║
║ PLUS Broccoli                     ║ PLUS         ║ PLUS         ║ NL      ║      1 ║          0 ║ 27     ║ 113     ║ 3.9     ║ 0.8          ║ 0       ║ 0.3 ║ 0               ║ 0.2             ║ 0.1       ║ 2.7           ║ 0.012 ║ 1.99         ║ 1000   ║
║ PLUS Broccoli                     ║ PLUS         ║ PLUS         ║ NL      ║      1 ║          0 ║ 34     ║ 142     ║ 3.8     ║ 2.7          ║ 2.7     ║ 0.2 ║ 0.03            ║ 0.11            ║ 0.05      ║ 3             ║ 0.06  ║ 2.07         ║ 300    ║
║ Perfekt Broccoli                  ║ Perfekt      ║ Jan Linders  ║ NL      ║      1 ║          0 ║ 34     ║ 142     ║ 3.8     ║ 2.7          ║ 2.7     ║ 0.2 ║ 0.03            ║ 0.11            ║ 0.05      ║ 3             ║ 0.06  ║ 2.77         ║ 300    ║
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  • $\begingroup$ Do you have a reliable source for these numbers? Looking around on wikipedia I find numbers between 2,1 (French) and 3,5 (German, raw). Still some difference, but I think this could be caused by different measurement standards, different types of broccoli or just some error somewhere. I don't expect such a large difference, as the protein in living things is always doing something, no protein no living broccoli. $\endgroup$
    – VonBeche
    Commented Sep 8, 2016 at 7:56
  • $\begingroup$ I added a table based on the data provided by the stores themselves, I will add more later on. $\endgroup$
    – PvdL
    Commented Sep 15, 2016 at 12:22
  • $\begingroup$ The protein values seem to cluster around 3 gr in your table. The variation looks comparatively small to me and is easily explained by differences in species, natural variability and variation in chemical measurement of the amounts. $\endgroup$
    – pbond
    Commented Sep 15, 2016 at 19:06
  • $\begingroup$ @pbond I agree, haven't had the time to check out the German supplies, since I live fairly close to Belgium as well I'm planning on looking into it there too. $\endgroup$
    – PvdL
    Commented Sep 16, 2016 at 16:56

1 Answer 1

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Protein levels can vary between species or variety because all it takes is a single gene mutation to cause the plant to produce an entirely new enzyme or some other protein. It could just be an extra pigment molecule responsible for the increase in protein level.

Also I would assume the amount of nitrogen available in the growing environment would affect the protein content greatly, as all proteins contain this element. If less is available they can't make as much protein as another plant with a plethora of Nitrogen at its disposal.

Hope this helps :)

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  • $\begingroup$ I added a table based on the data provided by the stores themselves, I will add more later on. $\endgroup$
    – PvdL
    Commented Sep 15, 2016 at 12:22

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