UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



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1 BULLETIN No. 632 



Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry 

 WM. A. TAYLOR, Chief 



Washington, D. C. 



PROFESSIONAL PAPER 



November 30, 1917 



THE UTILIZATION OF WASTE TOMATO SEEDS 



AND SKINS. 



By Feank Rabak, Chemical Biologist, Drug-Plant and Poisonous-Plant Investi- 

 gations, Bureau of Plant Industry. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Introduction 1 



Commercial products from tomato refuse 1 



Accumulation and disposal of tomato waste. . 3 



Percentages of seeds and skins 3 



Drying the waste material and separat- 

 ing the seeds 5 



Extraction of tomato-seed oil 5 



Physical and chemical properties of the 



crude and the refined oiL 7 



Extraction of tomato-seed oil — Continued. 



Chemical examination of the oil 7 



Available quantity of the oil 9 



Uses and value of the oil 10 



Tomato-seed meal 11 



Utilization for stock feeding 11 



Available quantity of the meal 12 



Summary 12 



Literature cited 14 



INTRODUCTION. 



The manufacture of tomato products in the United States con- 

 stitutes an industry of large and growing proportions and impor- 

 tance. Tomatoes serve as the basis for two general classes of prod- 

 ucts, in one of which the fresh whole tomatoes are used and in the 

 other the pulp alone, as in the manufacture of catsups and soups. 

 For this latter class large quantities of tomatoes are required, from 

 which the seeds and skins at present are discarded as useless. 



The increased interest in the production of foodstuffs throughout 

 the country will doubtless result in an extension of all canning and 

 packing operations, including tomato products. In the following- 

 pages attention is directed to the possible utilization of the waste 

 tomato material, not only from the standpoint of food conservation, 

 but as a profitable adjunct to the tomato-canning industry. 



COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS FROM TOMATO REFUSE. 



By proper treatment, tomato refuse may be made to produce 

 two important products, namely, fixed oil and meal, both of which 



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