Tomato Sauce
Tomato sauce is a seasoned condiment built on tomato concentrate, in which sugar, vinegar, salt and spice are added to the tomato base to give a sweet and sour balance that plain tomato does not have. It is distinguished from tomato paste, which is concentrated tomato and nothing else, and from culinary pasta sauces, which are cooked dishes rather than condiments.
The formulation rests on three variables. Tomato solids set the colour, body and the underlying savoury taste, which comes largely from the glutamate and nucleotides naturally present in the fruit. Acid, usually added as distilled vinegar and supplementing the tomato's own citric and malic acid, sets both the sourness and the pH that makes the product shelf stable without a preservative. Sugar balances the acid and contributes to viscosity through its effect on soluble solids.
The finished sauce is a smooth red pourable product, typically at twenty five to thirty three percent total soluble solids and a pH below four. Its body comes from the pectin and fibre of the tomato itself, sometimes supported by starch or gum. Colour is the main stability concern, since lycopene oxidises and darkens on exposure to air, light and heat, so the sauce is deaerated before filling.
We source bulk Tomato Sauce from top China manufacturers for our partners. The manufacturers are in Sichuan and Xinjiang. A smaller requirement can ship in a combined container with other ingredients.
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- Function
- Flavours and Aromas
Specifications
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Appearance | Smooth uniform red sauce, free from foreign matter |
| Odour and Taste | Characteristic sweet and sour tomato, no burnt or fermented note |
| Total Soluble Solids | Not less than 28.0 Brix at 20 C |
| Tomato Soluble Solids | Not less than 12.0% |
| Consistency | Bostwick not more than 7.0 cm at 20 C, 30 seconds |
| pH | 3.4 to 3.9 |
| Titratable Acidity, as Acetic Acid | 1.0 to 2.0% |
| Sodium Chloride | 1.5 to 3.0% |
| Howard Mould Count | Not more than 45% positive fields |
| Lead | Not more than 0.1 mg/kg |
| Arsenic | Not more than 0.1 mg/kg |
| Total Plate Count | Not more than 100 cfu/g |
| Yeast and Mould | Not more than 20 cfu/g |
| Salmonella | Absent in 25 g |
Common Markets Grades
The main commercial split is between retail sauces packed in glass, plastic bottles and sachets, and industrial grades sold in pails, drums or aseptic bags to caterers and food manufacturers. Industrial grades usually carry higher tomato solids and less sugar, so the buyer can complete the balance in the finished recipe.
Within each stream, grades are quoted on total soluble solids, on tomato solids as a percentage, on colour and on viscosity, the last of which is measured as a Bostwick flow figure. Recipe variants form a further set of grades: standard sweet and sour sauces, reduced sugar and no added sugar versions, spiced and chili variants, and versions formulated without added acid for use where the sauce will be further processed. Additive free grades declaring only tomato, sugar, vinegar, salt and spice are separated from grades containing starch, gum or preservative.
Applications
- Table condiment in bottles, jars and single serve sachets, the largest single outlet
- Quick service restaurant dispensing, in bag in box or pouch formats
- Burger, sandwich and wrap assembly lines, dosed by pump for consistency
- Pizza bases and topping systems, using thicker grades that resist soaking the dough
- Ready meals and chilled prepared dishes, as a sauce component
- Snack seasonings in tomato and ketchup directions, after spray drying the sauce onto a carrier
- Instant noodle and dry seasoning kits, as a sachet paste
- Compound sauce manufacture, as the base of barbecue, sweet chili and cocktail sauces
- Foodservice bulk supply to canteens and hotels, where drums are used as a cooking ingredient
Brands Using Tomato Sauce
Widely-distributed consumer products that list Tomato Sauce on the ingredient label.
- Hunt'sTomato Sauce ↗Canned tomato sauce made from vine-ripened tomatoes simmered with salt and spices, with no added sweeteners.Label verified 2026-08-31
- Hunt'sFire Roasted Tomato Sauce ↗A tomato sauce built on fire roasted tomatoes rather than plain vine-ripened ones.Label verified 2026-08-31
Brand names, product names and logos are the property of their owners. They appear here as published evidence that the ingredient is used, taken from the brand's own label or website. Their appearance is not an endorsement, and it does not mean the brand buys from us or from any manufacturer listed on this site.
China Manufacturers of Tomato Sauce
Top Tomato Sauce manufacturers in China.
Sichuan Litong Food Co., Ltd.5 ingredients in the directory- Xinjiang Pujiwo Garden Food Technology Co., Ltd.5 ingredients in the directory
Company names and logos are the property of the manufacturers themselves. They are listed here because our own directory records them as producing this ingredient. A listing is not an endorsement by them, and we do not represent them or speak on their behalf.
Regulatory Status
Tomato sauce is a food rather than a food additive, so the regulatory questions concern the additives it contains and the way it is described. In the European Union any preservative, thickener or acidity regulator used is a permitted additive with its own E number and must be declared, and colour additives are heavily restricted in this category because the colour is expected to come from the tomato. The pesticide residue and contaminant limits that apply to processed tomato products carry through from the paste.
In the United States the product is a processed acidified food, so a manufacturer supplying that market operates under acidified food controls with a filed process and a validated pH. Catsup and tomato ketchup are the subject of a federal standard of identity that sets a minimum tomato soluble solids content and lists the optional ingredients permitted, and voluntary grade standards for colour, consistency and defects exist alongside it. The Howard mould count and defect action levels that apply to tomato products apply here too. Codex maintains a standard for tomato based sauces covering composition, additives and labelling.
Manufacturing Process
Production starts by reconstituting tomato paste. The paste is dispersed into water in a high shear mixer to give a smooth base free of lumps, and sugar, salt, vinegar and a spice extract or infusion are added to a jacketed vacuum kettle. Any starch or gum is hydrated at this stage, since incomplete hydration shows up later as a thin sauce or as sedimentation in the bottle. Some plants work directly from single strength juice during the tomato season and concentrate in line rather than from stored paste.
The batch is heated under agitation to dissolve the sugar and salt, hydrate the thickener and drive out the raw note of the paste, then the pH is checked and adjusted to a value low enough for a pasteurisation rather than a sterilisation process to give shelf stability. Deaeration under vacuum follows, which protects the colour and prevents foaming at the filler. The sauce is passed through a homogeniser or a colloid mill to set the final texture, held briefly at pasteurisation temperature, then hot filled into bottles or drums, inverted or held so that the closure is sterilised, cooled rapidly in a tunnel, and labelled.
