ABSTRACT
The agro-industrial system is facing some tough challenges linked to global social evolution, such as an ever-increasing urban population, a decrease in the consumption of homemade processed food, constant evolution in cookery towards middle-class tendencies, diets for growing an aging society, an awareness of the health benefits of bioactive molecule-rich foods (functional foods). Moreover, international nutritional guidelines (WHO, USDA, EUFIC, etc.) recommend eating more fruit and vegetables, fiber, vitamins, potassium, etc. and contemporarily recommend eating less food rich in calories, saturated fats, and sodium. Tomato is a major component in the so-called “Mediterranean diet” often associated with a healthier lifestyle. Owing to the presence of a set of lipophilic and hydrophilic biomolecules, tomato products are rich sources of natural bioactive compounds such as carotenoids (lycopene, β-carotene, lutein, phytoene, etc.), vitamins C and A, and phenolic molecules such as flavonoids and phenolic acids, and are also important sources of potassium, folates, fibers, and unsaturated fatty acids and enzymes. For these important nutritional characteristics, tomato products are considered very important worldwide in terms of public health and well-being. With increasing interest and awareness of the health benefits of natural tomato bioactive compounds (mainly lycopene), the tomato industry has drawn more and more attention to the nutritional quality and healthy benefits of processed tomato-based foods. In the last few years, several studies have shown the importance of the natural synergistic effect of all of tomato’s bioactive native compounds: from new product applications (high pigment varieties, lycopene’s ingredients, new functional tomato recipes, lycopene’s enriched products, etc.), to new sustainable process developments (mild technologies, green extraction byproduct recovery, etc.).
Recent advances in structural and functional genomics, as well as advances in plant breeding, biotechnology, and applications of new “environmentally friendly” extraction techniques, make it possible to create new value-added functional foods that consumers can rely on for health and well-being solutions that are attuned to the specific demands of their life stages and lifestyles.
