President of Consorzio San Marzano keeps us updated on the fascinating world of San Marzano Tomatoes! He is glad the World is paying attention! The Italian Police, the Carabinieri and Customs Inspectors are working harder to protect the San Marzano good name. Left, a recent article in an Italian newspaper (read the article, here): 34 tons of "presumed" fake tomatoes, destination USA, were sequestered at the port of Naples. Why? The tins had labels that looked perfectly OK with DOP rules, with all the appropriate description, symbols and DOP numbers assigned by the consortium to each tin. The Police is accusing the producer of using the DOP numbers more than once, ie, of cloning its DOP number and multiplying the DOP San Marzano production.
This means that, even with a perfectly looking DOP San Marzano tin, you may end up buying a Fake San Marzano. Pretty scary, isn't it? While there's no clear answer, I'd pay attention, asking your merchant whether they know the producer, personally. Check the price, perhaps it is too cheap to be a real DOP San Marzano tomato? The good news is, the Carabinieri are at work to show you that THE SAN MARZANO name counts and to protect us consumers from fake tomatoes. We know our producers, and we kow what we sell is real!
