IQG Foods produces a full line of canned tomato in Egypt — whole, chopped, diced, crushed, concentrated and dried. Nine products across tin, glass jar and bulk, filled from fruit that reaches the line within hours of picking.
What separates one from another is how far the tomato has been taken. Whole peeled and cherry arrive in their own juice at the natural Brix of the fruit. Chopped and diced are cut but not concentrated. Purée is sieved and lightly reduced at 6-8% and 8-10% Brix, crushed is coarser and heavier from 10/12 to 14/16, and paste runs from 18/20 up to 28/30. Sun dried sits outside the range entirely, with the water taken out instead of added to.
The ingredient list stays short across the line. Tomato, and salt where salt belongs. No starch, no colouring, no added sugar and no preservatives in any of the nine.
Egypt harvests tomato across three seasons rather than one, which means fruit reaches the line fresh for most of the year instead of being held in store. Shorter time between field and fill is what keeps the colour bright and the flavour closer to raw tomato.
