Jordan Journal of Agricultural Sciences, Volume 18, No.3 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.35516/jjas.v18i3.444
-199-
* Corresponding author.E-mail: ayedamr@ju.edu.jo
© 2022 DSR Publishers/The University of Jordan. All Rights
Reserved. This article is an open access article distributed under the
terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC
BY-NC) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0 /)
Tomato Components and Quality Parameters.
A Review
Ayed Amr
1*
and Wesal Yousef Raie
1
1
Professor and graduate student respectively. Department of Nutrition and Food Technology/ College
of Agriculture/ University of Jordan/ Amman 11942
Received on 4/10/2021 and Accepted for Publication on 21/1/2022.
ABSTRACT
Tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum L.) are some of the most important vegetable foods worldwide. They are the
second largest grown vegetable in both terms of production and consumption. Demand for tomatoes has been
increasing recently due to their high content of nutritionally- acclaimed carotenoids, fibers, vitamins, and minerals,
hence it has been the subject of numerous studies both in the laboratory and under field conditions. The quality of
a tomato is determined by internal and external attributes, internal such as texture, sweetness, acidity, aroma,
flavor, and nutritional value, and external which are appearance factors such as color, shape, size, and firmness.
This review aims to investigate the chemical composition of tomato fruits and how they influence their quality.
The findings of chemical composition (minor and major) components that were reported by many researchers are
reviewed in this article. Also, this review focuses on the effect of tomato variety on the chemical composition of
this fruit, and how these components are varied during the ripening process. In addition, chemical, physical and
sensory quality factors were discussed in this review.
Keywords: Tomatoes, components, quality, sensory attributes.
INTRODUCTION
Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) belongs to the
family Solanaceae. It is one of the most popular
horticultural crops worldwide being second only to
potatoes (Siddiq et al., 2018). It is consumed either fresh
or processed in such forms as tomato juice, soup, paste,
puree, ketchup, sauce, and salsa (Shatta et al., 2017).
Tomato fruits are some of the most important nutritious
vegetable crops consumed by man, several studies show
its nutritional content as a rich source of the potent
antioxidant lycopene, β-carotene, vitamin C, pro-vitamin
A, folate and minerals such as potassium and secondary
metabolites including flavonoids, phytosterols, and
polyphenols. Some of these nutrients are maintained after
processing, thus providing important components for
human health (Vallverdú-Queralt et al., 2011, El-
Dengawy et al., 2016). Tomato plants are cultivated in