Design and Development of Automated Tomato Paste Machine

A tomato paste machine is an industrial device used to process tomatoes into concentrated tomato paste, the machine typically involves multiple stages, including washing, peeling, crushing, separating the seeds and concentrating the pulp by removing excess water. He final product is a smooth, thick paste that can be packaged for use in various food products, such as sources, soups, and condiments. The machine will be designed for high efficiency and small-scale production often featuring automated controls for consistent quality and output. Tomato is a highly perishable fruits that deteriorates faster, hence, the need for immediate processing. Tomato paste is a common processed product mostly done manually that involves drudgery. To reduce drudgery and realize a quality tomato paste, an automatic tomato paste-making machine was developed and evaluated for its performance. The major performance evaluated was the sensory evaluation of the processed tomato paste. The machine was developed from stainless steels and PVC pipes that are non-contaminating local materials. The automatic electronic components were developed by soldering of Integrated Circuits, timers, relays, diodes, thermostats, blenders, heaters and plug in conformity with the designed circuit diagram. The machine was evaluated by running it with no load and when fed with 3 kg tomato fruits at varying steaming.