Qualitative characterisation of organically grown tomatoes. The standpoint and demands of the preserving industry

摘要

Within a research project funded by MiPAAF (Ministry of Agricultural Food and Forestal Policy) aiming at evaluating the possibility of obtaining agricultural productions of processing sugarbeet and tomato under organic conditions by comparing the dataobtained with the same cultures under integrated production conditions, SSICA activity was to assess wheter and for which industrial purposes the raw material produced (processing tomato) showed minimum quality characteristics at the subsequent industrial processing proposed (precisely, processing into tomato puree and tomato pulp). During the last tomato harvesting and industrial processing seasons, the above mentioned conditions were tested at three different agricultural locations representative ofthree different Italian areas where industrial tomato crops are traditionally grown: Po Valley-Emilia Area (Bologna), Po Valley-Romagna Area (Ravenna) and Apulia Area (Foggia). In the fresh tomato crop, the analytical data of the organic growing system showed, in general, a positive behaviour for Hunter Colour, sugars, lycopene, soluble and total solid content compared to conventionally grown samples; in tomato puree and diced tomatoes, obtained after processing on a SSICA semi-industrial scale pilot plant, generally good results were obtained for both techniques with minimum, non statistically significant differences. In particular, the qualitative data measured on the purees obtained indicate almost similar productions. However, while the data for the organically grown diced tomato (pulp) are better regarding sugar and lycopene content, the "conventional" method yielded better products concerning the % of drained product and processing yield quality.