Use of cell wall degrading enzymes for the production of high-quality functional products from tomato processing waste

The feasibility of using tomato pomace, the solid waste resulting from the industrial processing of tomatoes, to produce a tomato oleoresin and a lycopene-enriched seed oil was investigated. The oil was obtained by cold-pressing the seeds, while the oleoresin was produced by pretreating the peel fraction of the waste with cell wall degrading enzymes. The latter consisted of polygalacturonase, pectin methylesterase, cellulase and hemicellulase. The enzymatic treatment followed by hexane extraction and solvent evaporation allowed the production of an oleoresin with a lycopene content of about 7% by weight. The oleoresin was incorporated in different proportions into tomato seed oil so as to obtain a functional oil with a lycopene content ranging from 30 to 600 ppm. The lycopene-enriched oil was characterized by official analytical methods and its potential use in the nutraceutical and cosmetic sectors was discussed.