In this study, a detailed exergy evaluation of a commercial tomato paste plant with a double-effect evaporator was conducted in order to provide information on the system thermodynamic inefficiencies. Using energy and exergy balance equations, all components of the plant were analyzed individually and their exergetic parameters were calculated on the basis of actual operational data. The required data were obtained from Nazchin tomato paste factory located in Tehran, Iran. In addition, it was attempted to quantify the exergy utilized for processing a given amount of the tomato paste. The results showed that over 82% of the total destroyed exergy in the plant occurred in the boiler combination as the main component wasting exergy. Furthermore, exergy analysis introduced this combination as the main equipment rejecting exergy to the ambient where 4.79% of its total exergy input was lost. The rational exergy efficiency of the first- and second-effect evaporative units was found to be 65.33% and 56.60%, respectively. The specific exergy consumption of the tomato paste production was also determined as 16.83 MJ/kg. Generally, exergy concept and its extensions could be served as a powerful assessment technique to optimize the design and performance of multiple-effect evaporation systems employed in food industry. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.