Indignation is at an all-time high across much of southern Italy's tomato business after one northern producer organisation allegedly took advantage of reports of waste-dumping in a part of the south-western region of Campania.
Following the recent suggestion that members of the mafia were in the habit of burning thousands of tonnes of industrial waste in the fields around Casale di Principe – a mob stronghold between Naples and Caserta – prior to 1997, Lombardy-based producer Pomì's decision to publicise the quality of its own northern tomato production has been met with anger among producers in the south who feel the timing of the promotion was opportunistic and threatened to damage their reputation.
Particular scorn has been poured on an advertisement taken by Pomì in a number of national newspapers at the start of November. The announcement underlined the provenance of its tomatoes by highlighting an area of northern Italy from which it sources the fruit for passata, tinned product and other lines.
Commentators including Italian Minister of Agriculture Nunzia De Girolamo and other farming officials argued the advertisement's tagline – Only from here. Only Pomi – was a deliberate reference to the waste-burning in what has been dubbed Terra dei Fuochi (Land of Fires).
While Pomì did not specifically make reference to the revelations coming out of Campania, many took the message to be one that contrasted traceable production in the north with unreliable supply in the south.
'We only use fresh tomatoes from members of the Casalasco Consortium, grown in the heart of the Po Valley, on average less than 50km away from our packhouses,' the advertisement stated. 'A great consortium of growers which, thanks to a strict protocol, checks and guarantees the tomatoes' origin for all of its products.'
It added: 'Thanks to the complete tracebability it is possible to know immediately which farm each tomato in every pack comes from.'
Red faces
Italian tinned vegetable association Anicav, which represents more than half of all Italian processed tomato suppliers, slammed Pomì's approach.
'We firmly condemn such adverts, which seriously damage the entire southern tinned vegetable sector, particularly in Campania,' the group said in a statement. 'Most tomatoes are in fact grown in Puglia. The recent environmental issues relate to an area representing just 3.85 per cent of fresh tomato processsing in Italy.'
Farming organisation Coldiretti also condemned the advert: 'There are no 'good' or 'bad' tomatoes in Italy. In fact, 100 per cent of processed Italian tomatoes have passed mandatory Ministry of Health chemical residue testing.'
Italy certainly has a strong record when it comes to food safety. As Coldiretti observed, only 0.3 per cent of the country's products breached European limits on chemical residues, compared with an average of 1.5 per cent across the EU and 7.9 per cent outside the EU.
'Someone once wondered whether the tomato was left-wing or right-wing,' De Girolamo commented when asked about the affair. 'Now we are even referring to ethnicity when it comes to tomatoes: it seems to me that common sense is being thrown out the window.'
She added: 'Made in Italy is a single, indivisible thing, and anyone who thinks they can enter international markets using a provincial identity is living in a world that no longer exists.'
Campania's governor, Stefano Caldoro, weighed in on Twitter: 'Northern tomatoes only marketing, the taste of ours is something else. Better and under control.
Clear vision
On its Facebook page, meanwhile, Pomì offered more in terms of an explanation as to why it had opted to advertise in such a way.
'The recent ethical and environmental scandals involving producers and operators in the processing sector are causing public opinion to shift, disorienting consumers,' it said.
'The Casalasco Consortium and the Pomì brand have always been against, and totally removed from, such practices, favouring clear and direct communication with the consumer. For that reason, the company will advertise in the major national and local newspapers, reiterating its values and its position on this matter.'