Essential Elements in Fresh and Canned Tomatoes

The content of 16 essential elements was determined in fresh and canned tomatoes by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The elemental content of fresh tomatoes was compared with that of canned tomatoes. All data were analyzed statistically. There were significantly higher amounts of calcium, chloride, cobalt, copper, nickel, sodium, tin, and zinc in canned tomatoes than in fresh tomatoes. There were significantly lower amounts of magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, and silicon in canned tomatoes than in fresh tomatoes. No significant difference in iron was found between fresh and canned samples. Percentages of the established and estimated RDA's show that fresh and canned tomatoes are relatively good sources of potassium and relatively fair sources of iron. Canned tomatoes are a relatively good source of sodium. Element retention in the canned tomatoes was 77–7,651%.