ABSTRACT
Tomato is an important agricultural commodity worldwide. Tomatoes and tomato products are the major sources of lycopene compounds and are considered to be important contributors of carotenoids to the human diet. The amount of lycopene in fresh tomato fruits depends on variety, maturity, and environmental conditions. Lycopene, by virtue of its acyclic structure and extreme hydrophobicity, will exhibit many unique and distinguishing biological features in mammalian system. In tomato processing, tomatoes are washed, sorted, and sliced. For dried tomato slices and powder, tomatoes undergo a dehydration process. Determination of the degree of lycopene isomerization would gain a better insight on the potential nutritional quality of the processed tomato products. The chapter aims to define the effect of dehydration treatments on the lycopene content and the distribution of the trans-and cis-isomers in the tomato products in the different dehydration methods and steps for maximum retention of lycopene bioactivity in tomato products.
