Hi there! Hopefully this is the right place. I tried searching for what this might be and I came up with a lot of different answers.

This is a store bought can of plain tomato sauce, we were making soup. We noticed this white paste on the side of the can, when I poked it it was soft, almost like a thin fat?

Smelled fine, and the sauce looked fine otherwise. But we got nervous and threw it away, afraid of botulism or other nasties. Plus we wanted to finish cooking.

Does anyone know what this is? Some sources said it might be calcium nitrate, but they also say it would be hard and wouldn’t break up in your fingers if rolled. This was a paste.

Anyway, just wondering for next time, figured you guys would know. Thanks!