Tomato-growers furious over ketchup health claims

British tomato growers were seeing red today over ‘‘misleading’’ health claims made by the processing industry.

The row concerns lycopene - an antioxidant in tomatoes which is said to protect against cancer and heart disease.

Lycopene is more readily absorbed from processed tomatoes, such as sauce and paste, than from the fresh fruit.

But tomato growers have accused the processing industry of using this fact to mislead the public, pointing out that an absurd amount of tomato sauce would have to be consumed to obtain a useful intake of lycopene.

Gerry Hayman, a consultant to the British Tomato Growers’ Association, said: ‘‘Again and again claims are made that it is best consumed by eating processed tomatoes, such as tomato sauce, rather than fresh tomatoes.

‘‘This is fundamentally misleading. It is currently believed that the optimum daily intake of lycopene should be 25-30 milligrams.

"To obtain this via, say tomato sauce, you would need to consume an entire 200ml bottle together with all the unwelcome baggage of salt and added sugars.’’

On the other hand, six ripe fresh tomatoes would provide 30mg of lycopene with the added benefits of C and E vitamins.

The Lycopene Project is a global initiative to identify and support further research into the health benefits of lycopene. It was supported by HJ Heinz, the world’s largest processor of tomatoes.

Nutritionist and dietician Jane Griffin said it was true that lycopene was more readily available from processed tomatoes, which could be a useful addition to the diet.

But she added: ‘‘The amount of processed tomatoes you would need to consume to reach 30mg of lycopene would be substantial. The British tomato growers do have a point.’’

She said lycopene can be more easily absorbed if tomatoes are first cooked in a little oil.

Dr Nigel Dickie, a nutritionist consultant to Heinz, said: ‘‘We have never suggested, nor would we, that you should only get lycopene from processed tomato products or ketchup. That’s nonsense.

‘‘All our communication has been about the potential benefits of lycopene from a wide variety of sources. We don’t suggest that anybody could get what might be an optimum intake of lycopene from eating ketchup.’’