Food counterfeiting is a thorny and controversial topic that has also affected Italian excellence for several years. It is so widespread that over time the term "Italian Sounding" was coined to indicate the use of colours, images and brands that evoke Italy in the packaging of foods produced outside our borders.
Among the most affected are cheeses (Mozzarella, Parmesan, Grana and Pecorino), local cold cuts such as Parma and Mortadella, not to mention olive oil and pasta.
But there are problems with food counterfeiting in our country as well. Today we face a case that deserves clarity and concerns one of the most loved products by Italians: the tomato.
Those who work in the sector, and beyond, will remember the Hyena investigation conducted in 2015 by Nadia Toffa on Chinese tomato imports. It was a scandal and the atrocious doubt that the products on the market for large consumption were not actually Italian was undermined in the spectators.
Over time, the service broadcast on TV was archived as a hoax.
But is it really like this or is there some truth to it?
The area in which the cultivation of the precious vegetable is concentrated is located in western China. We are talking about Xinjiang, a region almost six times the size of Italy and with a very complex internal political situation.
Its immense expanses of land are home to tomato crops destined for the industry which, after processing it, will export it in the form of triple concentrate all over the world.
The tomato is the emblem of Italian cuisine, it is so important in the Mediterranean diet that Italians consume about thirty kilos of preserves each year.
Not only that, Italy is also the first tomato producer in the European Union.
Why then does our country import thousands of tons of concentrated tomato from China every year?
Faced with such evidence, the large Italian industries have admitted to using the Chinese raw material, emphasizing however that it is used for products not intended for the Italian market.
The Chinese tomato is, in fact, processed and diluted to be packaged again and shipped to Africa and dozens of other countries in Europe and around the world. Just think of Germany and France, which import many products from Italy such as purées, ready-made sauces, peeled tomatoes and tomatoes for pizza.
Based on European regulations, this step is completely legitimate, the wording Made in Italy can in fact be shown on the label if the transformation of the raw material takes place in Italy.
Jean Baptiste Malet's book is called Rosso Marcio, published by Piemme in 2017, contains an accurate international journalistic investigation that starts from Asia and arrives in Italy.
In the first part of the book, JBMalet describes the Chinese region where tomatoes are produced. He talks about the precarious economic and working conditions of the workers and the exploitation of the children employed in the supply chain. A very detailed description of the factories and the long journey from China to our country.
And it is precisely this that is discussed in the second part of the text. The investigation lands in Campania where the transformation process takes place, the doubt that there may be a hand in the AgroMafia is strong. The journalist talks about trafficking in dirty money and consignments of concentrate not suitable for human consumption but intended for the African market.
Apparently Italian consumers can sleep peacefully. The puree distributed in our country, for example, must by law be produced with fresh tomatoes.
Furthermore, in the month of August the decree on agricultural policies and economic development came into force, which establishes the obligation to indicate on the label of tomato-based products, both the country of cultivation and transformation of the raw material.
The provision is not yet executive, or rather we are in a transitional period necessary to dispose of stocks of products labeled and placed on the market before the decree. These goods can be marketed until the expiry date indicated on the labels. It has been estimated that it will take at least a couple of years, subject to provisions on the matter by the EU Commission, to align with the legislation.
While waiting for greater clarity and transparency, the only weapon in the hands of Italians is the conscious choice of their purchases. It is important to ask questions about the quality of the products we find on the market, the origin of the foods we buy every day, and last but not least the ethics of the food industry.
