By TradeIndia Team in Manufacturers — 13 Aug 2022

An Overview of Tomato Sauce Making Business in India

Fast food has now become a regular affair in everyone’s life. Be it snacks, breakfast, fine dining, or even during travel, people look for quick options to eat. One important ingredient that forms a part of every food item is the humble tomato ketchup or tomato sauce. The tomato sauce pairs well with the burgers, pizzas, pakoras, samosas and a plethora of other dishes. Since the food business is an ever expanding and profitable domain of work, tomato ketchup manufacturing has been taken up by many large and small scale FMCG companies. These companies range from giants such as Nestle with their brand Maggi, Kissan, Del Monte, Veeba, or even local small-scale food processors such as Topz, Annapurna, etc. In reality, most of the so-called tomato sauce that we consume is actually Marinara sauce, and it contains tomato puree along with other herbs such as garlic, onion, among many others.

Origin of Tomato Sauce

It would be surprising to learn that till the end of 15th century, tomatoes were considered as inedible and found no use. As the study of alchemy became prominent during the 16th and 17th century, alchemists studied tomatoes for its aphrodisiac properties. This led to the mass adoption of tomatoes as a part of English and French cuisine. As tomatoes were not available throughout the year, thus, the practice of canning tomatoes was initiated successfully. Here, the tomatoes were sun dried and later ground into a thick paste along with different herbs. The origin of tomato sauce began with the canning of tomato puree in the late 18th century.

Are Sauce and Ketchup Same?

There is always a debate regarding the terms “sauce” and “ketchup”. In reality, both these terms refer to the same product of tomato. In Americas, tomato ketchup is widely used, whereas in countries colonized by the English, French, and Portuguese, the term tomato sauce is more prevalent. However, it must be noted that both these terms are, in essence, the same thing. This sauce or ketchup is just another condiment that is widely consumed by people along with various kinds of food.

Tomato Sauce Manufacturing Process

Given its widespread use in the food industry, there are many prominent companies manufacturing tomato ketchup. In fact, tomato sauce is so much loved in India that our country alone accounts for 11% of the total global consumption of tomato sauce. Let us try and understand, in simple terms, how this tomato sauce is manufactured. Manufacturing of tomato sauce begins with sourcing of high quality tomatoes that have a large pulp volume. For this, big round juicy tomatoes are selected and delivered to the processing plants, directly from the farmers or vendors. The tomatoes are washed thoroughly and any tomato with blemishes is discarded immediately to ensure high quality of product. The tomatoes are cut into smaller pieces through industrial knives, and collected in stainless steel vessels. An industrial crusher is used to crush these tomatoes into a paste. Generally, the crushed tomatoes are cooked till its skin peels off, while being regularly crushed. This cooked pulp is strained through a sieve and only the pulp is allowed to be collected while the seeds and skins are discarded or sold to other companies that utilize it for animal or plant food.

Further Processing Of Tomato Sauce

The tomato ketchup is produced by adding spices, sugar, vinegar and salt, along with powdered onion and garlic and cooked till the desired consistency and taste is achieved. It must be noted that in India, tomato ketchup must be at least 12% of tomato solids, else it will not be considered as edible grade. At first, for a batch of 100 kilos of tomato pulp obtained, one third its weight in Sugar is added to it and boiled. Here, different spices are added, by placing them in a bag, during the cooking process. This cooking goes one till the volume of the total mixture becomes about one third of its original. At this point, the spice bag is removed and more sugar is added to the mixture. However, now high-quality vinegar is added to the mixture, long with salt and preservatives. The mixture is again cooked and then cooled only till 88 degree centigrade. This mixture is then bottled and crown corked.

In order to ensure that the tomato ketchup is not affected by bacteria and has a long shelf life, the bottles are put through a boiling vat, for pasteurization process. Once the bottles are cooled, the company labels are stuck to the bottles and packed in cartons for delivery to vendors. As there are many uses of tomato ketchup, therefore, there are many industries that place bulk orders for the same. Most prominent of them are the hotels & restaurants, packaged food delivery and catering business amongst others.

One common problem found in bottled tomato ketchup is Black Crown Neck. However, this is nothing to be alarmed about. This is merely due to the oxidizing of tomato ketchup near the mouth of the bottle. This problem can be easily overcome by using high grade tomatoes and following a strict packaging method. Another simple solution is to use a small amount of ascorbic acid, to the top of the tomato sauce layer, before the crown corking step of the bottle. This ensures that the tannin in the ketchup cannot oxidize as it forms a barrier between the trapped air and ketchup.

Tomato Sauce Manufacturing Business in India

There is a huge scope of tomato sauce manufacturing business in India. Various types of tomato sauce varieties are available for consumers. The popular varieties include 100% tomato ketchup, Tomato ketchup with no onion or garlic, catered to the pure vegetarians, organic tomato sauce, sweet chilli and tomato ketchup sauce, etc. In order to start a tomato sauce manufacturing business, one must procure the necessary instruments and machines, along with ensuring a good supply of raw materials. Any food processing business must be licensed, and therefore the following licenses are essential. The first is the GST registration for the company to ensure tax compliance and a certificate from Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), declaring that the company is compliant with all the laid down regulation of food safety. Since the company will be a manufacturing company, therefore a registration with Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise ministry is also needed. The other licenses required include BIS certification, IS 3882 certification and a No Objection Certificate from the relevant state pollution control board.

Capital Investment Required for Tomato Sauce Manufacturing Business

The tomato sauce manufacturing business requires about 5-10 lakhs of initial capital investment for a micro enterprise. This is generally utilized to rent a space of at least 500 – 100- sq feet. The company must buy the tomato pulping and grinding machines, bottle washing equipment, boilers, crown corking set up as well as required man power. There must be workers who have a thorough understanding of the process to ensure that the products are of the highest quality.

Tomato Ketchup Manufacturers

The industry is already flooded with many tomato sauce manufacturers, so new entrants must do a market study before launching themselves into this domain. The prominent tomato ketchup manufacturers are Nestle, Kissan, Patanjali, Heinz, DelMonte, Veeba etc. One should always try to study what makes the products of these companies favoured by the consumers, and what are the gaps available. New entrants should target these gaps to create a niche for themselves, while slowly expanding into the business. There must be a good marketing strategy, and advertisements in digital and print media will be very helpful to make people aware of your product. Also, it would be wise to visit hotels, restaurants, fast food joints etc to explore the opportunity of direct supply at a competitive rate. One important aspect that should be borne in mind is that for a market such as India, the product must be carefully priced so as to keep consumers interested.

Tomato ketchup price is variable, depending on the product, manufacturer and clients. In general, large hotels and restaurant chains order tomato sauces in either 1 kg bottles or larger 5 kg tins. The average price of such a 1 kg bottle is about 70 rupees, billed to clients, with a profit margin of 10-15% for the manufacturer. However, for consumers, the end price is at approximately 120 – 160 rupees a kilo with a profit margin of 20-30%.

Conclusion:

Thus, a tomato ketchup manufacturing business is a low investment and high profitability business. The food industry across India is on the boom and now is the best time to get into this sector with your tomato sauce business. The government of India too offers loans at a very low interest rate for interest entrepreneurs.