Tomato Industry Interest in Measuring Lycopene: How Spectrophotometers Can Help

Lycopene is found in tomato products. It is the natural chemical that gives tomatoes and other fruits and vegetables their distinctive red color. The outer skin of the tomato contains the highest concentration of lycopene, though the exact amount depends on the tomato species, where it was grown, and its ripeness.

Traditionally, lycopene has been extracted from tomato skin (also called tomato pomace) or paste/purée and a correlation to lycopene concentration developed based on HLPC or spectrophotometric transmission measurements using a 10 mm path length cell.

Today, the tomato industry is interested in measuring lycopene. Customers know its health benefits, and measuring lycopene can communicate the advantages of tomato-containing products. Fortunately, today's spectrophotometers can help producers accurately quantify the color of tomatoes and tomato products, providing important information about lycopene content.

What Is Lycopene?

Lycopene is a carotenoid, a naturally occurring compound or chemical that gives color to plants. Lycopene is specifically a red carotenoid, creating the red or pink color in watermelons, tomatoes, cranberries, grapes, and other fruits and vegetables.

Lycopene doesn't break down when heated. When lycopene-containing foods like tomatoes are pureed or heated, this makes it more accessible to the body. Pureeing and heating disrupts the cells trapping lycopene, making the compound more bioavailable. It’s easy and affordable to add this beneficial compound to the diet, since it is available through fresh and shelf-stable foods.

Tomatoes, especially when processed, are among the foods with the highest amounts of lycopene. Ketchup can contain between 9.9 and 13.44 milligrams of lycopene per 100 grams, while watermelon can contain 9 to 13 mg of lycopene for every cup and a half.

Tomato Industry Interest in Measuring Lycopene

The tomato industry can communicate with customers about the potential advantages of tomatoes and tomato products due to lycopene's health benefits, especially as an antioxidant. While more research is needed, the following benefits have been attributed to lycopene:

• Antioxidant properties, which protect against free radical damage and may reduce the risk of serious illnesses
• Anti-cancer protection, especially with prostate, bone, skin, and lung cancer
• Cardiovascular benefits, coming from lycopene’s apparent ability to lower low-density lipoprotein (LDL), increase high-density lipoprotein (HDL), and lower blood pressure
• Potential pain relief
• Potential improvement in male fertility

In addition to showing consumers the benefits of lycopene-rich foods, the tomato industry can also use lycopene measurement to demonstrate product quality. Measuring lycopene and color in tomatoes is linked, as the redder and riper the tomato, the higher the lycopene content. When fresh tomatoes are harvested at their peak in August, they contain 31% more lycopene compared with tomatoes harvested in September. 

Measuring lycopene in tomatoes is also important for product quality control. When lycopene content in tomato products is consistent, the products' color and grade also stays consistent. Measuring lycopene can help tomato paste manufacturers, for example, ensure all their tomato pastes have a similar color and quality.

Finally, measurements allow for a higher precision level. While brands may tell customers they choose ripe tomatoes, specific measurements let brands select the same color of tomatoes, creating a uniform product that meets customer demand.

Using the ColorFlex EZ Tomato to Measure Lycopene

HunterLab has the answer for determining lycopene content in tomato products: ColorFlex EZ Tomato. This spectrophotometer can measure lycopene in fresh tomatoes and processed products containing tomatoes. 

The ColorFlex EZ Tomato spectrophotometer can provide fast, accurate colorimetric and spectral data, tomato score values, and reflectance color. The display can also show pass/fail tolerances for specific product standards. With a 25.4 millimeter viewing area and 64 mm glass sample cup, it’s easy to place tomato slices or a sample of juice, paste, or other product.

Once you’re ready to measure, ColorFlex EZ Tomato will illuminate the sample with a xenon flash lamp. The reflected light is separated into wavelengths along the visible spectrum and analyzed. You get numeric results that help you quantify your sample's lycopene and color.

ColorFlex EZ Tomato is USDA approved and can even test non-tomato products. It is also small and portable, ideal for fieldwork. Connect it to a printer or computer to generate reports for a team. 

The ColorFlex EZ Tomato spectrophotometer uses 45°/0° optical measurement geometry. This is the only measurement technology independently shown to measure color the same way the human eye experiences color. 

Contact HunterLab Today

HunterLab has over 70 years of experience in the color measurement and testing services field. We help companies across industries quantify the color of their products and meet standards set by the USDA, FDA, and other agencies.

If your business works with tomatoes, we can help you view more than you can see with the human eye. We help you precisely measure the shade of your tomatoes and tomato products with certainty and accuracy. We turn colors into predictable numbers so you never have to rely on subjective opinion for your brand’s quality commitment. The tomatoes you sell or use in your products can have the right quality and amount of lycopene for your customers. 

Our solutions are field-tested and simple to use. To find out more about how we can help, contact our technical color experts today.