ABSTRACT

The tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) with a production of 161,793,834 t in 2012, was the vegetable with the second highest worldwide production after potatoes (364,808,768 t). China being the country with  the highest production with 50,000,000 t, followed by India (17.5 million t), United States (13,206,950 t), Turkey (11,350,000 t), and Egypt (8,625,219 t). In 2011, globally presented a value of U.S. $725,685,929 (FAO 2014).

It is considered that the domestication of tomato started with the Aztec and Inca cultures where it was used as part of regular diet and its production and consumption grew at the same level as the population did. Nowadays tomato is sold fresh and also processed in several products like soups, pastas, concentrates, juices, and ketchup. Several studies show its nutritional content as a rich source of lycopene, β-carotene, and vitamin C, some of which are maintained after its processing, providing important components for human health (Bergougnoux 2013).