National Announcement

On December 19, 2014, the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) issued the Announcement on the Approval of 9 New Food Ingredients Including Tomato Seed Oil (No. 20 of 2014), which formally approved tomato seed oil as a new food ingredient, and made the following requirements on its sources, processes, and quality requirements:

Tomato seed oil is a natural high quality edible oil extracted and refined from tomato seeds. Tomato seed oil is a high linoleic acid edible oil and is rich in lycopene and carotene, a precursor of Vitamin E and Vitamin A. It is a high quality edible oil from fresh tomato seeds.

Tomato seed oil extracted from fresh tomato seeds by physical pressing, because it contains lycopene and all kinds of oil-soluble vitamins, it has obvious preventive and inhibitory effects on prostate cancer, digestive tract cancer, cervical cancer, skin cancer and other diseases; regular consumption of tomato seed oil can regulate the body’s physiological functions and human development, and can prevent cell aging, enhance skin elasticity, and play the role of moisturizing and cosmetic effects, which has a wide range of applications in the field of food and medicine. Widely used in the field of food and medicine.

Nutritional characteristics

1、High linoleic acid content
Tomato seed oil belongs to the semi-dry fat, is a kind of oleic acid – linoleic acid oil extracted from tomato seeds.

According to domestic scholars, the fatty acid composition of tomato seed oil, saturated fatty acids (mainly stearic and soft fatty acids) accounted for 15% to 20%, unsaturated fatty acids accounted for more than 80%. In the unsaturated fatty acids, oleic acid accounts for 20% to 25%, linoleic acid content of 50% to 60%, linolenic acid content of about 2%.

Linoleic acid can be combined with excess cholesterol in the body to prevent the production of deposits in blood vessels, can prevent and control cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Linolenic acid is the synthesis of the human body reproductive system and retinal components of the precursor substances. As the linolenic acid molecule with three double bonds, high degree of unsaturation, molecular activity is also high, if the content is too high, the molecules in the air can be added to polymerization, like paint, liquid to solid, that is, there is a film, so the linolenic acid content is not the higher the better, the content of linolenic acid in tomato seed oil is very appropriate to meet the needs of the same is not too high.

2, lycopene and vitamin E activity is strong
The nutritional value of tomato seed oil depends not only on its fatty acid composition. Because the bulk vegetable oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil and even cottonseed oil unsaturated fatty acids and linoleic acid content are not low, can meet the normal needs of the human body. What is really valuable is that it contains natural lycopene, vitamin E and other bioactive substances.

Lycopene has a significant inhibitory effect on the prevention of prostate cancer, digestive tract cancer, cervical cancer, skin cancer and other diseases. The human body cannot produce lycopene and can only ingest it through diet. Drinking tomato juice, lycopene in the body through the digestive tract and directly into the digestive terminal utilization is extremely low. However, lycopene in tomato seed oil can be effectively absorbed by the body.

The difference between tomato seed oil and other edible fats and oils

The fats and oils we usually consume go through a complex refining process and generally contain only fatty acid glycerides, not vitamins and other natural nutrients. A large number of fat-soluble nutrients required by the human body, such as Vitamin E, Vitamin D, and β-carotene (a precursor of Vitamin A), cannot be obtained from daily cooking oils.

During the processing of tomato seed oil, we retain the maximum amount of natural ingredients without adding any artificial coloring or additives. Thanks to the natural and precious lycopene, tomato seed oil has a unique and intoxicating orange-red color.

High quality tomato seed oil should meet the following standards:
1, tomato seed oil must be made from tomato seeds as raw material, without adding any other fats and food additives.
2, all health indicators to meet the national health standards for edible vegetable oil.
3, odor, taste: with significant tomato seed oil flavor and taste, no odor.
Simple identification method: tomato seed oil contains natural lycopene, so it is presented as orange-red, rather than other edible oil color change. Because the natural lycopene is easy to decompose in the light, tomato seed oil drops on white paper to unfold the orange-yellow oil stains, in the daylight for 2 hours to become colorless oil stains.

Value of tomato seed oil

Tomato seed oil production is very small, because of the scarcity of raw materials, processing complex. About 1,000 kilograms of fresh tomatoes contain less than 3 kilograms of tomato seeds, through the complex processing, at most only 500 grams of oil. In the world, bulk oil production is measured in millions of tons, the country in recent years familiar and expensive olive oil, the total output has reached 3.5 million tons to 5 million tons, it is “expensive because of the ocean”, not because of the nutritional good and expensive. But 100% tomato seed oil can only be measured by a few tons dozens of tons, up to thousands of tons is very difficult, if the market can be seen everywhere tomato seed oil, it is worth questioning its authenticity.

100% tomato seed oil is a rare and highly nutritious vegetable oil. According to the “Edible Tomato Seed Oil” standard, the trade name “tomato seed oil”, can only be extracted from tomato seeds as raw materials, not mixed with any other fats and additives.

Tomato seed oil has obtained the edible oil production license, of course, can be used as nutritional edible oil. According to its lycopene, vitamin E and other physical and chemical properties, it is recommended to avoid using as high temperature frying cooking oil, declared for low-temperature omelette, stir-frying, cold, braised dishes, soups or direct consumption. In some Western countries, tomato seed oil is mainly used as a base oil or essential oil for skin care cosmetics, and is sold at a very high price.