Fecha de publicación: 19/09/2012 Fuente: Wipo tomato The invention discloses a method for predicting the shelf life of a tomato product. The method comprises the following steps of: storing the tomato product in a sealing manner; during the storage time, regularly sampling and measuring contents of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) in the tomato product for at least three times so as to obtain contents of 5-HMF in the tomato product at different storage times; substituting different storage times and content values of 5-HMF in the tomato product corresponding to various storage times into a formula (a) so as to obtain exponential functions between k0 and k1, and analyzing the obtained exponential functions to obtain values of k0 and k1; substituting the maximum limit provision value of the 5-HMF in the tomato product into the formula (a); and then predicting the shelf life of the tomato product, wherein C=k0/k1-(k0/k1-C0)exp(-k1t)(a). The shelf life of the tomato product can be predicted by calculating the time for increasing the initial value of the content of the HMF in the tomato product to the maximum limit provision value; and the method is beneficial to accurately judging the storage safety of the tomato product.