英语新闻视频：“番茄会议”在京举行（在线收听）

World Tomato Processing Congress kicks off in Beijing

　　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.

　　Mcdonald's ketchup.

　　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.

文化链接：世界加工番茄大会的历史
由AMITOM（地中海番茄加工协会）主办的第一届世界番茄大会于1989年11月在法国Avignon市举办，以庆祝地中海番茄加工协会成立10周年。此次会议的举办旨在为整个番茄行业提供交流机会，并且组委会决定第三届国际园艺学协会番茄加工研讨会与世界番茄大会同期举办（第一届国际园艺学协会番茄加工研讨会于1979年在葡萄牙Evora市举办，第二届则于1986年在加利福尼亚州戴维斯市举办）。第二届世界番茄大会于1993年在意大利Sorrento市举办，而接下来一届则于1998年在西班牙Pamplona市举办，此届大会上世界番茄加工理事会正式成立。从那时起，世界加工番茄大会每隔两年在WPTC成员国之间轮流举办，并且与国际园艺学协会加工番茄研讨会同时举办。