IQG Foods produces canned whole peeled tomatoes in Egypt, packed in their own juice in tin from 400 g to A10. The fruit is steam blanched, peeled and filled whole, then sterilised with nothing added. Two ingredients on the label and no salt. The tomato stays intact in the can and holds its shape through slow cooking, which is why it is the format most pasta sauce and ready meal producers start from.

A peeled tomato is the least processed thing in a tomato cannery. The fruit is washed, blanched in steam until the skin lifts, peeled, and put in the can whole. Nothing is crushed, sieved, concentrated or cooked down. What the buyer opens is close to what came off the field.

That matters for anyone making a sauce from scratch. Crushing happens in the buyer’s kitchen or on the buyer’s line, at the texture they want, instead of being decided at the cannery. A chunky arrabbiata and a smooth marinara come out of the same can.

It also holds through long cooking. A whole tomato has structure that a purée does not, so it keeps a visible presence in a ragù simmered for two hours or a braise in the oven. Chopped or crushed tomato breaks down in the same time and disappears into the sauce.

The ingredient list is two lines, tomato and tomato juice, with no salt and no acidity regulator. For a manufacturer that means full control over seasoning downstream.