During the last years the nutritional importance of antioxidants in food, e.g. carotenoids, tocopherols and vitamin C, has been recognized because of their possible role in the prevention of human diseases such as cancer, atherosclerosis and immune depression. During normal industrial processing -including cutting, blanching, drying and storing - vegetables usually suffer distinct losses in these components, resulting in a significant quality decrease. Applying low oxygen conditions during critical processing steps yields products of better quality. Results of a comparative study of atmospheric and inert gas processing of three vegetables are presented.