ﻟﺪو اﻟﺘﻘﻴﻴﺲ  اﻟﻌﺮﺑﻴﺔهﻴﺌﺔ  اﻟﺨﻠﻴﺞ  ﻟﺪول اﻟﺘﻌﺎون  ﻣﺠﻠﺲ  ل  
GCC STANDARDIZATION ORGANIZATION (GSO) 
   
 
  
  
 
Final Draft 
    
  
GSO 05/FDS/ CAC 13:2008 
CODEX STAN 13-1981 
 
 
اﻟﻤﺤﻔﻮﻇﺔ  اﻟﻄﻤﺎﻃﻢ   
Preserved Tomatoes 
 
  
 
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
إﻋﺪاد 
واﻟﺰراﻋﻴﺔ  اﻟﻐﺬاﺋﻴﺔ  اﻟﻤﻮاﺻﻔﺎت  ﻟﻘﻄﺎع اﻟﺨﻠﻴﺠﻴﺔ  اﻟﻔﻨﻴﺔ اﻟﻠﺠﻨﺔ  
 
 
ﺑﺸﺄﻧﻬﺎه  واﻟﻤﻠﺤﻮﻇﺎت  اﻟﺮأي ﻹﺑﺪاء ﺗﻮزﻳﻌﻬﺎ  ﺗﻢ ﺧﻠﻴﺠﻴﺔ  ﻗﻴﺎﺳﻴﺔ  ﻟﻤﻮاﺻﻔﺔ  ﻣﺸﺮوع  اﻟﻮﺛﻴﻘﺔ  ﺬﻩ  ﻓﺈﻧﻬﺎ ﻟﺬﻟﻚ ،
واﻟﺘﺒﺪﻳﻞ،  ﻟﻠﺘﻐﻴﻴﺮ  ﻋﺮﺿﺔ  ﻣﺠﻠﺲ  ﻣﻦ اﻋﺘﻤﺎدهﺎ  ﺑﻌﺪ إﻻ ﺧﻠﻴﺠﻴﺔ  ﻗﻴﺎﺳﻴﺔ  آﻤﻮاﺻﻔﺔ  إﻟﻴﻬﺎ اﻟﺮﺟﻮع  ﻳﺠﻮز وﻻ 
اﻟﻬﻴﺌﺔ إدارة . ﺗﻘﺪﻳﻢ 
  
اﻟﻌﺮﺑﻴ اﻟﺨﻠﻴﺞ  ﻟﺪول اﻟﺘﻌﺎون  ﻣﺠﻠﺲ  ﻟﺪول اﻟﺘﻘﻴﻴﺲ  هﻴﺌﺔ  اﻟﻮﻃﻨﻴﺔ  اﻷﺟﻬﺰة  ﻋﻀﻮﻳﺘﻬﺎ  ﻓﻲ ﺗﻀﻢ إﻗﻠﻴﻤﻴﺔ  هﻴﺌﺔ ﺔ
 ﺑﻮاﺳﻄﺔ  اﻟﺨﻠﻴﺠﻴﺔ  اﻟﻘﻴﺎﺳﻴﺔ  اﻟﻤﻮاﺻﻔﺎت  إﻋﺪاد اﻟﻬﻴﺌﺔ ﻣﻬﺎم وﻣﻦ اﻟﻌﺮﺑﻴﺔ،  اﻟﺨﻠﻴﺞ  دول ﻓﻲ واﻟﻤﻘﺎﻳﻴﺲ  ﻟﻠﻤﻮاﺻﻔﺎت
ﻣﺘﺨﺼﺼﺔ  ﻓﻨﻴﺔ ﻟﺠﺎن  . 
   
ر اﻟﻔﻨﻴﺔ اﻟﻠﺠﻨﺔ ﻋﻤﻞ ﺑﺮﻧﺎﻣﺞ  ﺿﻤﻦ اﻟﻌﺮﺑﻴﺔ  اﻟﺨﻠﻴﺞ  ﻟﺪول اﻟﺘﻌﺎون  ﻣﺠﻠﺲ  ﻟﺪول اﻟﺘﻘﻴﻴﺲ  هﻴﺌﺔ ﻗﺎﻣﺖ ﻗﻢوﻗﺪ 5 
"واﻟﺰراﻋﻴﺔ  اﻟﻐﺬاﺋﻴﺔ  اﻟﻤﻮاﺻﻔﺎت  ﻟﻘﻄﺎع اﻟﺨﻠﻴﺠﻴﺔ  اﻟﻔﻨﻴﺔ اﻟﻠﺠﻨﺔ " اﻟﺪوﻟﻴﺔ  اﻟﻘﻴﺎﺳﻴﺔ  اﻟﻤﻮاﺻﻔﺔ  ﺑﺘﺒﻨﻲ   رﻗﻢ 
CODEX STAN 13-1981"اﻟﻤﺤﻔﻮﻇﺔ  اﻟﻄﻤﺎﻃﻢ "  هﻴﺌﺔ أﺻﺪرﺗﻬﺎ  واﻟﺘﻲ واﻻﻧﺠﻠﻴﺰﻳﺔ  اﻟﻌﺮﺑﻴﺔ  ﺑﺎﻟﻠﻐﺘﻴﻦ
ا هﺬﻩ ﻣﺸﺮوع  ﺑﺈﻋﺪاد  اﻟﻤﺘﺤﺪة  اﻟﻌﺮﺑﻴﺔ  اﻹﻣﺎرات  دوﻟﺔ وﻗﺎﻣﺖ  اﻟﻐﺬاﺋﻲ  ﻟﻤﻮاﺻﻔﺔاﻟﺪﺳﺘﻮر   .
  
 اﻟﻤﻮاﺻﻔﺔ  هﺬﻩ اﻋﺘﻤﺪت  وﻗﺪ  آـ ) ﻗﻴﺎﺳﻴﺔ  ﻣﻮاﺻﻔﺔ/  ﻓﻨﻴﺔ ﻻﺋﺤﺔ(  ﺧﻠﻴﺠﻴﺔ ﻋﻠﻴﻬﺎ ﻓﻨﻴﺔ ﺗﻌﺪﻳﻼت  أﻳﺔ إدﺧﺎل دون   
 وذﻟﻚ  رﻗﻢ اﻟﻬﻴﺌﺔ إدارة ﻣﺠﻠﺲ  اﺟﺘﻤﺎع  ﻓﻲ (  ) ﺑﺘﺎرﻳﺦ  ﻋﻘﺪ اﻟﺬي ،      /      /    ، هـ  اﻟﻤﻮاﻓﻖ            /    /       م  . 
 
  
Foreword 
  
GCC Standardization Organization (GSO ) is a regional Organization which 
consists of the National Standards Bo dies of GCC member States. One of 
GSO main functions is to issue Gulf Standards /Technical regulations through 
specialized technical committees (TCs). 
 
GSO through the technical program of  committee TC No.:5 "Gulf technical 
committee for standards of food and agriculture products". Has adopted the 
international standard No. CODEX STAN 13 – 1981 " Preserved  Tomatoes "   
issued by Codex Alimentarius Commissi on which has been translated into 
Arabic. The Draft Standard has been p repared by United Arab Emirates. 
 
This standard has been approved as a Gulf (Standard / Technical Regulation) 
without any technical modifications by GSO Board of Directors in its meeting 
No. (       ), held on    /     /    H,    /   /        G. 
 
 
  GSO Standard                                                                             GSO / CAC 13:2008 
 
PRESERVED TOMATOES 
 
1. SCOPE 
 
This Gulf Standard applies the products, as defi ned in Section 3 below, and offered for direct 
consumption, including for catering purposes or fo r repacking if required. This Standard also 
applies to the product when indicated as bei ng intended for further processing. The Standard 
does not include dried tomatoes and preserved to matoes containing other vegetables such as 
pepper and onions in quantities that materially a lter the flavour, aroma and taste of the tomato 
component. 
 
2.COMPLEMENTARY  STANDARDS 
 
2.1 GSO No. (9) "Labelleing of  prepackaged foodstuffs".  
2.2 GSO No. (150) "Expiration dates for food products". 2.3   "Principles for the Establishment and App lication of Microbiologi cal Criteria for Food" 
(CAC/GL 21).  
2.4 GSO/CAC (193) "general standard  for toxins and contaminants". 
2.5 Project Gulf standard concerned with "Maxim um allowable limits of pesticide residues in 
agricultural and food products ".  
2.6 GSO No. (1694) "General pr inciples of food hygiene". 
2.7 GSO No. (1016) "Microbiological cr iteria for food stuffs – Part 1". 
2.8 "Recommended International Code of Hygi enic Practice for Low-Acid and Acidified 
Low-Acid Canned Foods" (CAC/RCP 23). 
2.9    GSO No. (1057) " Tomato concentrates". 2.10 GSO No. (148) "White sugar". 2.11   GSO CAC No. (150) "Food grade salt". 
 
3. DESCRIPTION 
 
3.1 PRODUCT DEFINITION  
         Preserved tomatoes is the product: 3.1.1 prepared from fresh, washed, ripened tomatoes, conforming to the characteristics of the                   
fruit of Lycopersicon/Lycopersicum esculentum P. Mill, of red or reddish varieties which 
are clean and which are sound. The tomatoes sh all have had the stems and calices removed 
and where necessary, the core; 
3.1.2 packed with or without a suitab le packing medium and seasoning i ngredients appropriate to     
the product; and 
3.1.3 processed by heat, in an appropriate manner, be fore or after being hermetically sealed in a 
container, so as to prevent spoilage. 
3.2 VARIETAL TYPE 
Tomatoes of distinct varietal groups (cultivars  Open Pollinated or hybrids) with respect to 
shape or other similar physical ch aracteristics may be designated as: 
3.2.1 Round : globular or semi-globular shape. 
3.2.2 Cylinder, Pear, Egg or Plum : elongated shape. 
1 GSO Standard                                                                             GSO / CAC 13:2008 
 
3.3 STYLES 
Preserved tomatoes in these styles are prepared  in whole or not whole form. The whole form 
normally is prepared with peel removed; if th e peel is not removed, the style is considered 
additionally as “Unpeeled”: 
3.3.1 Whole : Tomatoes which keep their initial shape after processing. 
3.3.2 Unwhole (Pieces): Tomatoes crushed or cut into s ections whose shape ma y be irregular or 
regular. 
For the not whole tomatoes the style should be better specified accordi ng with the type of 
grinding or cutting: 
3.3.2.1 Diced : tomatoes cut into cubes; 
3.3.2.2 Sliced : tomatoes cut perpendicula rly to the longitudinal axis  in rounds with a regular 
thickness; 
3.3.2.3 Wedges : tomatoes cut into four roughly equal parts; 
3.3.2.4 Pulp or crushed or chopped : tomatoes crushed, ground or pulped when appropriate. 
3.3.3 Other Styles 
Any other presentation of the product should be permitted provided that the product: 
3.3.3.1 is sufficiently distinctive from other forms of presentation laid down in the Standard; 
3.3.3.2 meets all relevant requirements of the Standard, including requirements relating to 
limitations on defects, drained weight, and any other requirements which are applicable to 
that style which most closely resembles the st yle or styles intended to be provided for under 
this provision; and 
3.3.3.3 is adequately described on the label to avoid confusing or misleading the consumer. 
3.4 TYPES OF PACK 
3.4.1 Solid Pack – without any added packing medium. 
3.4.2 Regular Pack – with a packing medium adde d, as specified in Section 4.1.2. 
 
4. ESSENTIAL COMPOSITION AND QUALITY FACTORS 
 
4.1 COMPOSITION 
4.1.1 Basic Ingredients 
Tomatoes as defined in Section 3 and packi ng medium when appropriate, as defined in 
Section 4.1.2. 
4.1.2 Packing Media 
Preserved tomatoes may be packed in the following packing media: 
4.1.2.1 Juice  1 : the liquid obtained from ripened tomatoes, from the residue resulting from 
preparing tomatoes for canning or by diluting tomato concentrates; 
4.1.2.2 Tomato puree or Tomato concentrate : as described in the Codex Standard for 
Processed Tomato Concentrates; 
4.1.2.3 Pulp : skinless ground tomatoes; 
4.1.2.4 Water : only in unpeeled preserved tomatoes. 
4.1.3 Other Permitted Ingredients 
ـــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ  
1)  In this Standard, “juice” must not be intended as the fru it juice (including tomato jui ce) as defined in the Codex 
General Standard for Fruit Juices and Nectars (CODEX STAN 247-2005). 
 2  GSO Standard                                                                             GSO / CAC 13:2008 
 
4.1.3.1 Spices, aromatic herbs (such as basil leaves) and natural extracts of these and seasonings 
excluding tomato flavouring; 
4.1.3.2 Salt (sodium chloride) in accord ance with the GSO Standard item 2.11. 
4.1.3.3 When acidifying agents are used, sugars, as listed in the GSO Standard item 2.10. 
4.2 QUALITY CRITERIA 
Preserved tomatoes shall have normal colour characteristic for ripened tomatoes, properly 
processed, a normal flavour and odour free from flavours or odours foreign to the 
product. Preserved tomatoes with special ingred ients shall have a fla vour characteristic of 
that imparted by the tomatoes and the other substances used. 
4.2.1 Definitions of defects and ot her terms used in Section 3.3 
4.2.1.1 Whole or Almost Whole : a tomato of any size in which the contour is not materially 
altered by coring or trimming; the unit may be r eadily restored to practically its original 
conformation; it may be slightly cracked or split but not to the extent that there is 
substantial loss of shape. 
4.2.1.2 Objectionable core material : tough and fibrous texture or tomato tissue representing the 
tomato core that is definitely object ionable as to appearance and edibility. 
4.2.1.3 Blemishes : areas into which lesions on the surface ha ve penetrated and as a result thereof 
contrast strongly in colour or texture with  the normal tomato tissue and should normally 
have been removed during processing. 
4.2.1.4 Extraneous plant material : tomato leaves, stems, calyx bracts, and similar plant 
material. 
4.2.1.5 Peel (or skin) : the residual pieces of skin, having a length higher than 5 mm, which 
adheres to the tomato flesh or is  found loose in the container. 
4.2.2 Size or Wholeness 
Size or wholeness, as such, is only a factor  in the style designated as “Whole” style . 
Preserved tomatoes of “Whole” style shall consist of not le ss than 65% m/m of drained 
tomatoes in whole or almost whole units, ex cept that in any container there may be one 
unit that is not whole. For small cans (less than  500 g net weight) this  value shall be 70%. 
4.2.3 Defects and Allowances 
The finished product shall be prepared from su ch materials and under su ch practices that it 
shall be substantially free from objectionable core material and extr aneous plant material 
and shall not contain excessive defects whether specifically mentioned in this Standard or 
not. Certain common defects shou ld not be present in amounts greater than the following 
limitations: 
4.2.3.1 Peel (only for whole and peeled styles): 
Whole peeled: not more than 30 cm2 aggregate area per kg of total contents. 
4.2.3.2 Blemishes 
Not more than 3.5 cm2 aggregate area per kg of total contents. 
4.2.3.3 pH 
The pH must not exceed 4.5. 
4.3 CLASSIFICATION OF “DEFECTIVES” 
A container that fails to meet one or more of the applicable quality requirements, as set out 
in Section 4.2, should be c onsidered as a “defective”. 
 
3 GSO Standard                                                                             GSO / CAC 13:2008 
 
4.4 LOT ACCEPTANCE 
A lot should be considered as meeting the a pplicable quality requirements referred to in 
Section 4.2 when: 
4.4.1 the number of “defectives”, as defined in Section 4.2, does not exceed the acceptance 
number (c) of the appropriate samp ling plan with an AQL of 6.5; and 
4.4.2 the maximum allowance for mould count is not exceeded the limits has been mentioned in 
Gulf standard stated in item ( 2.7 ). (The se acceptance criteria do not apply to non-retail 
containers). 
 
5. FOOD ADDITIVES 
5.1 ACIDITY REGULATORS 
 
INS No. 
 Name of the Food Additive 
            Maximum Level 
 
330  
 Citric Acid 
331(i) Sodium Dihydrogen Citrate 
331(iii) Trisodium Citrate  
 
332(i) Potassium dihydrogen Citrate 
332(ii) Tripotassium Citrate 
333 Calcium Citrates 
575 Glucono delta-Lactone  
                    GMP 
 
5.2 FIRMING AGENTS 
 
INS No. 
 Name of the Food Additive            Maximum Level  
327 Calcium Lactate 
333 Calcium Citrates 
509 Calcium Chloride                                                    
GMP  
 
6. CONTAMINANTS 
6.1 PESTICIDE RESIDUES 
6.1.1 The product covered by the provisions of this Standard shall comply with those maximum 
pesticide residue limits  menti oned in GSO Standard item 2.5 . 
6.1.2 In order to consider the c oncentration of the product, the determination of the maximum 
pesticide residue limits shall take into account the natural total solubl e solids, the reference 
value being 4.5 for fresh fruit. 
6.2 OTHER CONTAMINANTS 
6.2.1 The product covered by the provisions of this Standard shall comply with those maximum 
levels for contaminants  has been mentioned in Gulf standard stated in item ( 2.4 ). 
 
4 GSO Standard                                                                             GSO / CAC 13:2008 
 
6.2.2 In order to consider the c oncentration of the product, the determination of the maximum 
levels for contaminants shall take into account the natural total solubl e solids, the reference 
value being 4.5 for fresh fruit. 
 
7. HYGIENE 
7.1 The product shall comply the GSO standard item 2.6 and Recommended  International Code 
of Hygienic Practice for Low-Acid and Ac idified Low-Acid Canned Foods (CAC/RCP 23-
1979) and other relevant Codex texts such as  codes of hygienic pr actice and codes of 
practice. 
7.2 The products should comply with any microbiol ogical criteria established in accordance with 
the Principles for the Establishment and App lication of Microbiological Criteria for Foods 
(CAC/GL 21-1997)2.  
 7.3 Limits of microbiological of  the product shall comply to what has been mentioned in Gulf 
standard stated in item ( 2.7 ). 
        
8. WEIGHTS AND MEASURES3 
8.1 FILL OF CONTAINER 
8.1.1 Minimum Fill 
The container should be well filled with th e product (including packing medium when 
appropriate) which should occupy not less than  90% (minus any necessary head space 
according to good manufacturing pr actices) of the water capacity of the container. The 
water capacity of the container is the volume of distilled water at 20 ºC which the sealed 
container will hold when completely filled. 
8.1.2 Classification of “Defectives” 
A container that fails to meet the requirem ent for minimum fill of Section 8.1.1 should be 
considered as a “defective”. 
8.1.3 Lot Acceptance 
A lot should be considered as meeting the requirement of Section 8.1.1 when the number 
of “defectives”, as defined in Section 8.1.2, does not exceed the acceptance number (c) of 
the appropriate sampling plan with an AQL of 6.5. 
8.1.4 Minimum Drained Weight 
8.1.4.1 The drained weight of the product should be not  less than 50%, calculated on the basis of 
the weight of distilled water at 20oC which the sealed container will hold when completely 
filled4. 
 
ــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ  
2 For products that are rendered commercially sterile in accordance with the Recommended 
International Code of Hygienic Practice for Low-Acid and Acidified Low-Acid Canned Foods 
(CAC/RCP 23-1979), microbiologica l criteria are not recommended as they do not offer benefit 
in providing the consumer with a food th at is safe and suitable for consumption. 
3 The provisions in this Section do no t apply to non-retail containers. 
4 For non-metallic rigid containers  such as glass jars, the basis for the determination should be 
calculated on the weight of distilled water at  20°C which the sealed container will hold when 
completely filled less 20 ml. 
5 GSO Standard                                                                             GSO / CAC 13:2008 
 
8.1.4.2 Lot Acceptance 
The requirements for minimum drained weight  should be deemed to be complied with 
when the average drained weight of all containers examined is not less than the minimum required, provided that there is no unreasona ble shortage in i ndividual containers. 
 
9. LABELLING 
Without prejudice to what has been mentioned in  Gulf standard stated in item ( 2.1 ), the 
following shall be declared on the product :  
9.1 NAME OF THE PRODUCT 
9.1.1 “Peeled Tomatoes” or “Whole peeled Tomatoes ”, for the products “Whole”, if the peel has 
been removed; 
9.1.2 “Tomatoes”, for the other presentations; 9.1.3 “Unpeeled tomatoes”, if the pe el has not been removed or if  the allowances indicated in 
Section 4.2.1.5 are not respected. 
9.2 The styles, as defined in Section 3.3 and the packing media defined in Section 4.1.2 shall be 
declared as part of the name or in close proximity to the name. 
9.3 If an added ingredient, as defined in Secti on 4.1.3, alters the flavour characteristic of the 
product, the name of the food shall be accompan ied by the term “flavoured with X” or “X 
flavoured” as appropriate. 
9.4 Other styles – If the product is produced  in accordance with the other styles provision 
(Section 3.3.3), the label should c ontain in close proximity to the name of the product such 
additional words or phrases that will a void misleading or confusing the consumer. 
9.5 The following may be stated on the label: 9.5.1 the type : “solid pack” if the pack complies with Section 3.4.1; 
9.5.2 the packing material : “juice” or other, if the p ack complies with Section 4.1.2 
9.6 LABELLING OF NON-RETAIL CONTAINERS 
Information for non-retail containers shall be given either on the container or in 
accompanying documents, except that the name of the product, lot identification, and the name and address of the manuf acturer, packer, distributor or importer, as well as storage 
instructions, shall appear on th e container. However, lot id entification, and the name and 
address of the manufacturer, packer, distributor or impor ter may be replaced by an 
identification mark, provided that such a mark is clearly identifiable with the accompanying 
documents. 
9.7  Expiration date and production date (item 2.2). 
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
6 GSO Standard                                                                             GSO / CAC 13:2008 
 
10. METHODS OF ANALYSIS AND SAMPLING 
 
 
DETERMINATION OF WATER CAPACITY OF CONTAINERS 
(CAC/RM 46-19725) 
1. SCOPE 
This method applies to glass containers6. 
2. DEFINITION 
The water capacity of a container is the volum e of distilled water at  20°C which the sealed 
container will hold when completely filled. 3. PROCEDURE 
3.1 Select a container which is  undamaged in all respects. 
3.2 Wash, dry and weigh the empty container. 3.3 Fill the container with distille d water at 20°C to the level of the top thereof, and weigh the 
container thus filled. 4. CALCULATION AND EXPRESSION OF RESULTS 
Subtract the weight found in 3.2 from the weight  found in 3.3. The difference shall be considered 
to be the weight of water required to fill the container. Results are expressed as ml of water. ــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ  
5 As amended by the Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling, ALINORM 03/23, Appendix VI-H. 
6 For determination of water capacity in metal cont ainers the reference method is ISO 90.1:1986. 
7