Fresh tomatos or processed tomatos, which do you prefer? This matters a lot to the tomato processing industry. Sunday, the 10th World Tomato Processing Congress kicks off in Beijing.

When Mcdonald's opened its first restaurant in China, people were wondering what ketchup was, because they prefered eating fresh tomatos. But now, China has grown into one of the leading countries that processes tomatos.

At the 10th World Tomato Processing Congress in Beijing, participants joined by high ranking officials from the ministries of Commerce and Agriculture. They share the common belief that China is not only a major exporter, but also a huge potential market for processed tomato products.

Qin Yelong, Vice president of World Tomato Processing Congress says, "China has seen a growth of 20% in processed tomato products. It has great prospects. But we used to focus on exports, and almost 90% of China's production shipped overseas. That's because the domestic market prefers to eat fresh tomatos."

Despite traditonal food preferences, processed tomato products are still likely to succed in China, because it caters to the fast pace of modern life. Some people are concerned that if a tomato is processed and canned, some of its nutrition might be lost. But actually, this is not the case, especially for the nutrient Lycopin which is found exclusively in tomatos.

Howard Sesso, professor of Harvard university says, "Fresh tomatos are not as good a source of licopin as processed ones because your body cannot absorb it. And when you have the licopin in the tomato that is processed, it could be spagetti source or the source in some pizzas, the licopin will readily be absorbed into the body."

Nowadays, ketchup is moving from Mcdonald's onto the average Chinese dinner table. But traditional eating habits still set limits on tomato product consumption in China. How will this problem be tackled by the tomato processing industry? Let's wait and see.