FBL x parma impianti rivista

to the plants requirements, also and
especially when season was very
favourable to crops in the world
main regions where tomatoes are
grown.
In such events, a part of the crop
surplus may be rejected by plants.
This would mean a clear economic
loss for farmers and the exceeding
processed products stored up by
the industry could hardly find a
market for disposal that same year.
Therefore any overproduction of
processing tomatoes needs to be
avoided. This can be done by adjusting
crop planning to the production
thresholds that should pertain
to each country and taking into due
consideration the present economic
trend and the international competitive
new structure.
IMPORTANCE OF QUALITY
Of the food “tomato”, taken both as
fresh vegetable and industrial product,
today’s consumer appreciates,
ever-increasingly, the hygienic and
healthful aspects.
As happens with other kinds of
food, special attention is in fact paid
to the origin and “traceability “ of a
product, to the methods used to
make it. As a result, growing space
is today given to the so called “biological”
foods, free from microorganisms
and chemical pollutants.
But public opinion is also interested
in nutritional and healthful aspects,
mainly since when mass-media
started informing the consumer of
these subjects.
So just the specialized columns published
by newspapers or broadcast
on TV are stressing the importance
of tomato as irreplaceable ingredient
of the daily diet for a healthier
and more adequate way of eating.
The healthful virtues of tomato, as
well as those of other vegetable-derived
foods gifted with special coloring
shades, are described in the
chapter of “nutraceutics”, a neologism
identifying food both under the
nutritional and pharmacological
aspects.
Major pigments in vegetables are
chlorophyll, carotenes, xantophyll,
flavones and anthocyans, all contained
in specialized cell structures
called chloroplasts and plastids.
Part of the beneficial properties
ascribed to tomato is derived from
its pigments. Which, together with
16
vitamins and other non nutrient molecules,
fight, in the human body,
free radicals through a strong antioxidant
action.
But these terms need an explication.
Free radicals are metabolites with
great oxidative aptitudes. Occurring
in plasma, they can oxidize and, as
a result, damage lipids, proteins,
DNA contained in human tissue
cells.
This process provokes the much
feared premature physical aging (so
firmly fought today through fitness
practices and also plastic surgery)
but, above all, the onset of serious
diseases, tumoral included.
As previously said, pigments and vitamins
are among the major antioxidant
products occurring in nature.
The antioxidant potential of a compound
is metered using analytical
methods carried out in the laboratory.
They assess if fluorescence
produced in the tested compound,
due to the presence of a source of
free radicals, persists. The longer
the persistance, the greater is the
antioxidant power of that compound.
At this point it is necessary to clarify
that the tomato berry contains, to a
large extent, one of the pigments
with the highest antioxidant capacity:
lycopene. Lycopene is a carotenoid
and its absorption through human
tissues seems to be greater if
one eats such tomato processed
products as sauces, juices, pastes,
and other condiments.
Since long the healthful properties
of lycopene were demonstrated through
a number of epidemiological
tests carried out at international level.
In consequence of these findings,
new technologies enabling the indu-
strial extraction of the pigment from
tomato processing waste were developed.
It is estimated, for instance, that in
Northern Italy, 50,000 tons per year
of industrial waste are produced.
From these by-products 5 tons of lycopene
could be extracted.
But tomato features additional
healthful and nutritional pluses.
Besides pigments and vitamins, the
berry contains as well important
phytochemical compounds, sugars,
mineral salts and fibre.
For this last substance it is worth
while to put in a few more words.
Plant fibres, coming from the tissue
cell walls, consist of various polymers
and are neither digestible nor
attackable from bacteria.
Plant fibres act like ionic exchange
resins, binding to themselves biliary
acids and reducing fats absorption.
Therefore it is clear the importance
of these compounds in the diet of
contemporary man.
Tomato, and particularly its industrial
products, are then not only useful to
add taste to the Mediterranean diet
but feature other more important
qualities.
That explains why international research
is today devoting itself also
to genetically improve attributes such
as sapidity, colour, betacarotene
content, vitamins and sugars.
One cannot deny the good successes
obtained so far. By the introduction
of hybrid genotypes and by applying
“substainable” biotechnologies,
those of molecular markers, of
in vitro cultures and somatic fusion,
a great deal of progress was made.
But it will be up to genetic engineering
the task of achieving the most
drastic innovations, provided that
the investigation techniques applied
are capable of evaluate all the toxicological
and ecological aspects for
the introduction of new genetically
modified organisms into the environment.
After this closer analysis, processing
tomato would seem to deserve a different
reputation, besides that merely
linked to its commercial competition
and globalization.
It is therefore a good thing to stake
on “nutraceutic” quality of industrial
tomato products in order to differenciate
offer and secure a safe future
to those who are growing tomato
since ever.