NEW DELHI, July 26 Reuters Many Indian restaurants are cutting back on tomatoes in their popular dishes and consumer companies are ramping up production of cheaper purees that are flying off the shelves, after prices surged more than 500.

Used widely in Indian cooking, prices of tomatoes have hit record highs in recent weeks as monsoon rains disrupted supplies at a time when seasonal production is typically low, forcing the government to organize mobile vans for subsidised sales.

Many McDonald39;s and Subway outlets have dropped tomatoes from their menu items, citing quality issues, but higher food prices are having a broader impact across the industry, while pushing headline inflation numbers above the central bank39;s mediumterm target.

Consumers, already struggling with rising living costs, are desperate for cheaper options.

Milk and vegetable retailer Mother Dairy has seen a 300 jump in tomato puree sales in the last 15 days in New Delhi, a spokesperson said. Indian consumer giant Dabur said it has ramped up production of puree to meet growing demand.

Puree sales at Tata39;s online shopping website BigBasket surged 175 in early July, with senior executive Seshu Kumar saying customers who earlier bought an average of 1 kg fresh tomatoes per order were buying half of that.

Amazon said demand for tomato puree on its platform rose five times over the past month, while ketchup sales rose 30.

Packs of puree typically contain around 40 tomato paste and the rest water,…