Valorization of Tomato By-Products for Nutritional and Bioactive Applications
Summary
Tomato processing generates large volumes of by-products—primarily skins, seeds and vascular tissues—rich in dietary fibres, proteins, pectins, carotenoids and phenolic compounds. Valorization of these residues seeks to convert them into high-value functional ingredients, nutraceuticals, cosmetic actives and feed supplements. Innovations in extraction and concentration technologies—such as ultrasound-assisted extraction, microwave-assisted extraction, enzymatic hydrolysis and supercritical fluid extraction—have substantially improved yields and purity of lycopene, β-carotene, flavonoids and pectic polysaccharides. Integrated biorefinery models now propose sequential fractionation to recover successive product streams, maximising resource efficiency and reducing environmental impact. Recovered compounds confer antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties when incorporated into functional foods, dietary supplements or animal feeds. Key challenges include process scale-up, cost-effectiveness, compound stability, regulatory compliance and bioavailability in end products. Interdisciplinary collaborations among agricultural producers, food technologists and chemical engineers are steering the tomato industry towards circular bioeconomy paradigms that transform waste into revenue streams while promoting human and planetary health.
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Valorization of Tomato By-Products for Nutritional and Bioactive Applications publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in valorization of tomato by-products for nutritional and bioactive applications across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Pomace: Solid residue remaining after juice or puree extraction, comprising skins, seeds and fibrous tissues.
Bioactive compound: A naturally occurring constituent that exerts a biological effect beyond basic nutrition, such as antioxidants or antimicrobials.
Polyphenol: A class of plant secondary metabolites characterised by multiple phenol units, known for antioxidant properties.
Lycopene: A red carotenoid pigment abundant in tomato tissues, recognised for potent radical-scavenging activity.
Functional food: A food product enhanced with bioactive components to deliver specific health benefits beyond traditional nutrition.
References
- An updated overview on the revalorization of bioactive compounds derived from tomato production and processing by-products. Journal of Cleaner Production (2025).
- Tomato pomace food waste from different variants as a high antioxidant potential resource. Food Chemistry (2024).
- Chemometric study on the effect of cooking on bioactive compounds in tomato pomace enriched sauces. npj Science of Food (2024).
- Phenolic and Antioxidant Characterization of Fruit By-Products for Their Nutraceuticals and Dietary Supplements Valorization under a Circular Bio-Economy Approach. Antioxidants (2024).
- Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) seed: A review on bioactives and biomedical activities. Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy (2021).
- Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Activities of the Crude Extracts of Raw and Fermented Tomato Pomace and Their Correlations with Aglycate-Polyphenols. Antioxidants (2020).
- Effect of Microwave-Assisted Extraction on Polyphenols Recovery from Tomato Peel Waste. Acta Chimica Slovenica (2019).
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