Protein Content and Amino Acid Composition of Protein of Seeds From Tomatoes at Various Stages of Ripeness

Tomato seeds represent a large portion of the waste generated during the processing of liquid tomato products. With mechanical harvest, green fruit also become waste. There was no significant change in either seed protein content or amino acid profile as tomatoes ripened from green mature fruit. Tomato seed protein contains approximately 13% more lysine than soy protein which would allow it to be used in fortifying low lysine foods. These results indicate that seeds from processed fruit, culls, and other waste fruit could be used as a source of protein.