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News

Italy: Canned tomatoes under attack

24/06/2021 - Press release , Sophie Colvine - 2021 Season
ANICAV: "To discredit the sector without reason damages the economy of the country

ANICAV's Press release, Naples, 24 June 2021

"In recent weeks we have been witnessing a barrage, by some media, against the tomato processing industry: speaking indistinctly of fraud, of enslaved labour only sheds bad light on an entire sector which represents one of the Italian agri-food excellences in the world both in terms of turnover and quantity produced and which plays an important strategic and driving role for the national economy.

We wonder who benefits from all of this? What is the advantage for farmers, industries, workers and consumers if a sector is discredited, without reason, causing confusion especially on the national market?

We believe it is our duty towards all honest entrepreneurs, who represent the vast majority of operators in the industrial tomato supply chain, to clarify some fundamental issues.

Italy, with a production of 5.2 million tonnes of processed tomatoes in 2020, from about 65,634 hectares under cultivation, is the third largest processor after the USA and China, and represents 13% of the global production and about 53% of the European production. It is the leading producer and exporter of tomato products intended directly for the final consumer, which represent the emblem of Italian cuisine in the world.

Over the last ten years, the surfaces planted with tomatoes for processing have fluctuated between 65 and 70 thousand hectares and the price for the raw material paid to farmers by our companies is the highest in the world, especially in the Central South basin.

Peeled tomatoes, passata, pulps and cherry tomatoes that we find on the shelves of our supermarkets are obtained from 100% Italian high quality raw materials.

With regard to the news that in the last two months concerned two companies in our sector in relation to alleged offenses carried out, we reiterate, once again, that these are facts that are still under investigation and that in any case would entail individual responsibilities that should not be made to fall on the entire sector.

As an Association, our total commitment in favour of maximum transparency to protect the health of consumers is known, as evidenced over the years also by the positions taken in support of the introduction of mandatory origin labelling for all tomato derivatives and work that we are carrying out in synergy with the Experimental Station of Canning (SSICA) for the characterization of the macro and micro mineral elements present in tomatoes aimed at identifying the area of origin of the derivatives which, once implemented, can represent a fundamental tool in defence of our productions and the protection of the final consumer.

As regards imports of concentrate, we specify that Italy imports tomato paste from various markets such as China, the USA, Spain and Portugal and that imports from the two major producing countries, China and the USA (California), vary according to fluctuations in exchange rates and internal production/overproduction.

About 90% of the imported tomato paste is reprocessed by our companies and then re-exported, with the wording on the label "packaged in Italy" and not "produced in Italy", to third countries, mainly North and West Africa and the Middle East where the consumption of this product is widespread.

Imports of tomato paste do not represent a particularly significant problem for our agricultural and industrial system as competition occurs on different levels. The tomato grown in Italy is, due to its high quality, destined for higher "value" productions - such as, for example, peeled tomatoes, a characteristic product of the companies in the Central South Basin - that the canning industry tries to sell, with great difficulty and not always successfully, under terms that are sufficient to cover the cost of the raw materials.

Furthermore, in terms of costs, we are not competitive: producing tomato paste in Italy incurs very high costs, so the finished product should be sold at a price that most of the destination markets could not bear. Furthermore, if the paste is no longer reworked under the inward processing scheme, the Italian supply chain would not gain from it, nor the hectares cultivated would increase as our main competitors at the European level (Spain and Portugal) have lower costs both for raw materials and for transportation.

Finally, an important clarification on the question of employment: we cannot in any way accept that it is declared, with a certain lightness, that the workforce "in the south continues to be enslaved".

In Italy almost all industrial tomatoes are harvested mechanically: 100% in the North and over 90% in the Central South basin. Manual harvesting is used only in special cases, in very stony fields and in hilly fields with steep slopes where machinery cannot reach, situations that are amplified following heavy rains, when the farmer is forced to harvest the ripe tomatoes. Furthermore, hand harvesting is used only for some specific niche productions, such as the San Marzano DOP tomato.

For years as ANICAV, despite the issues concerning the agricultural world, we have been carrying out numerous actions to counter this phenomenon: dissemination of ethical certifications of agricultural and industrial companies, support for the network of quality agricultural work, introduction in the contracts to supply tomatoes of commitment of the agricultural part to observe compliance with the regulations on safety and health at work, social security and welfare and national collective labour agreements, participation in the "Fi.Le. - Legal Sector" project under the PON Legality jointly with Ministries of the Interior and Agricultural Policies.

As for peeled tomatoes, an excellence of our companies, we are working together with the Promoting Committee to obtain the recognition of the Peeled Tomato of Naples PGI to relaunch the product on national and international markets. Even if an important and enlightened part of agricultural producers is in favour of the request for the PGI - aware of the indubitable advantages that it can bring to the world of production as well as to that of processing - the critical positions of a section of the Apulian agricultural world that claim a centrality remain of the Foggia area, more suited to long tomatoes, positions that, we hope, can be overcome in the exclusive interest of the entire supply chain.

In conclusion, we can affirm, without any fear of refutation, that consumers who buy tomato products are fully protected by the large number of controls to which our goods are subjected, both those sold under the processors’ own brand and those under private labels, for which, in addition to the controls of the factories, there are also numerous audits by the retailers
."

Source: ANICAV

Original press release in Italian:
Comunicato stampa ANICAV 20210624
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