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Apulia: research project for the perfect processing tomato

12/09/2019

François-Xavier Branthôme
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Recovering lost organoleptic qualities…

The Pomodoro IO of Italy's south-central processing region and the ANICAV are collaborating on an important project to evaluate the suitability for industrial processing of a number of tomato varieties, with the aim of producing canned tomatoes from raw materials produced in this area. 
A number of fields have been specially selected in the region of Apulia for the cultivation of 10 varieties of tomatoes supplied by seed companies Nunhems, Syngenta, Heinz/Furia Seed, United Genetics, Monsanto/Seminis, Clause and ISI Sementi. The raw materials are expected to be harvested around mid-September and processed in the SSICA pilot plant at Angri, where a team of taste specialists comprised of technicians from the sectors of agriculture, industry and seed production will proceed to evaluate the sensory features of the resulting products, in order to respond to the growing demand on the part of consumers to "recover" organoleptic qualities like aroma and taste, which are often difficult to maintain in processed tomato products. 

 The different stages of the project (which includes measuring agricultural and processing yields for each cultivar) were presented during a recent field visit to cultivation areas near Lucera, in the province of Foggia, which was organized in order to observe the growing conditions and plant health circumstances of the crops.
The results and conclusions of this project, as well as those of a similar study set up by the Pomodoro IO in northern Italy, will be made available throughout the industry, which remains one of the country's most important food industry sectors. 

This visit also provided the opportunity for an update on the "singular season currently underway, which is more than one week behind the schedule of previous years, and which is unfolding at an unusually slow pace", stated Guglielmo Vaccaro, the President of the South-Central region's IO. "Undeniably, the rainy weather of May delayed planting operations, and therefore delayed the harvest. The unfavorable weather conditions recorded in July considerably affected yields, a situation that will require a bigger harvest in September, with all the uncertainties caused by the weather at that time of year."

Some complementary data
The 10 cultivars being used for this research project:
Taylor (Nunhems), Heinz 1538 (Furia Sementi), Superpeel (United Genetics), Nemabrix (United Genetics), SV5197 (Seminis/Monsanto), SV8840 (Seminis/Monsanto), ABBUNDO (Clause), Aprix (Clause), Solerex (Syngenta), Dobler (Isi Sementi).

Source: FreshPlaza, AgroNotizie