Swaminathan B (publsiherchefbharath@gmail.com)
Tomatoes were first brought in by Portuguese traders to India. Their cultivation spread reached throughout the country after Britishers started cultivating tomatoes throughout India.
Kagome Foods India is the fully owned subsidiary of Kagome Japan, the No. 1 Tomato Company in Japan since 1899. Kagome Foods India is a Tomato Solutions Company, offering natural and customizable, base solutions to Indian food service. The company which has entered recently in the Indian sub-continent has big plans. Kagome Foods India’s launch portfolio comprises of preservative-free products like Crushed Tomatoes, Tomato Puree, Tomato Soup Base, Tomato Makhani Gravy Base, and Italian Pizza Pasta Sauce. The company has several exciting products targeted at HoReCa Chefs, in the pipeline.
“India is the second-largest producer and consumer of Tomatoes in the world with a production of 20 million tonnes annually. Yet processed tomato products account for less than 1% of India’s total consumption of tomatoes, the rest of it coming from fresh tomatoes. Tomatoes are vital to Indian cooking and are an integral part of the vegetable basket. Tomatoes are the base for Indian Curries, Vegetables, Soups, Chutneys, Pickles and more. They are added to food for their texture, taste and rich red color.”, says Rohit Bhatla, Managing Director, Kagome Foods India.
Tomatoes in India hold tremendous significance in our culinary journey, as they act as a vital catalyst in enhancing the taste and texture of Indian foods. “Our preservative-free tomatoes go a step ahead in providing the best quality product at a competitive price, which is season agnostic. This not only ensures consistency in taste, but also stems any sort of price fluctuations at any time of the year” Rohit said further adding that as a company, their focus has been on sustainable production and manufacturing of processed tomatoes to provide winning solutions in the hands of thousands of chefs in India who rely highly on this versatile vegetable for their living.
Kagome has a unique vertically integrated seed-to-table model, the Group’s wholly-owned subsidiary company, supplies specialized, tested and approved seeds to farmers in Nashik, who grow them in exclusive farms in a controlled environment, under the expert guidance of our agronomy teams. Kagome claims their agronomists impart guidance to farmers to grow high yield, high-quality tomatoes at a low cost. These juicy tomatoes are harvested only when they are fully ripened, sorted and crushed in state-of-the-art plant customized for processing tomatoes. The output of primary processing is tomato paste/puree that becomes the base for all our tomato products.
“Our specialized tomato paste is further processed under stringent Japanese quality controls and packed using world-class packaging equipment, providing a large variety of products that maximize the value of tomatoes. Our unique vertically integrated seed-to-table model, along with rigorous Japanese quality controls, ensure safety and reassurance, enabling us to offer global quality products at affordable, local prices.”
Plans ahead:
Kagome products are currently available in Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Cochin, Nashik, Ahmedabad and the company is planning to scale up the distribution rapidly to other metros and mini-metros. “Our plan is to offer convenient solutions to HoReCa Chefs, which can help them offer consistent quality food to their customers, without compromising on price. Moreover, an exciting new range of products, to drive convenience and efficacy across HoReCa kitchens are in the pipeline and will be launched shortly. “, Rohit concluded.
