UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



j\Jf^r<mru 



% BULLETIN No. 927 



Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry 

 WM. A. TAYLOR, Chief 



s&r^&L 



Washington, D. C. 



April 16, 1921 



COMMERCIAL UTILIZATION OF WASTE SEED 

 FROM THE TOMATO PULPING INDUSTRY. 



By J. H. Shrader, formerly Chemical Technologist, and Frank Rabak, Chemical 

 Biologist, Office of Drug, Poisonous, and Oil-Plant Investigations. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

 Profitable utilization of waste mate- 

 rials 1 



Nature and source of tomato waste 2 



Distribution and quantity of toma- 

 toes pulped annually 2 



Quantity of seed available 4 



Commercial products obtainable from 



tomato seed 4 



Procedure in handling tomato waste. 5 

 The use of exhaust steam compared 



with live steam 15 



Page. 



Extracting the oil from tomato seed^ 16 



Refining and deodorizing the oil : 19 



Oil cake and meal 20 



Commercial procedure for utilizing 



tomato waste 20 



Cost of handling the waste _ 23 



Possible returns and net profits from 



oil, cake, and meal 28 



Summary 29 



PROFITABLE UTILIZATION OF WASTE MATERIALS. 



The utilization of waste materials from the canning or packing 

 of certain classes of agricultural products is at present commanding- 

 considerable attention in connection with the possibility of reducing 

 the waste of commodities of commercial importance. The nature of 

 the waste material varies, of course, with the type of products which 

 are canned or packed. 



In the manufacture of the various tomato products for which there 

 are very extensive packing operations in the United States there 

 occurs a waste, consisting of seeds and skins, Avhich possesses in- 

 herent possibilities from the standpoint of profitable utilization. 1 

 At present this material is not being utilized, possibly because of 

 lack of knowledge regarding the proper methods of procedure at- 

 tending a well-directed commercial project of this character, and 



1 Rabak, Frank. The utilization of waste tomato seeds and skins. IT. S. Dept. Agr. 

 Bui. 632. 15 p. 1917. 



