The battle against fake Made in Italy continues vigorously. The farmers of Coldiretti Campania, determined to defend the authenticity of Italian products, have launched a new chapter of their protest. Some of the 44 containers of Chinese tomato paste, landed in recent days at the port of Salerno, were delivered to a canning company in Sarno to be processed and labeled as Italian products.
This use of current laws, which allow a product to be labeled as “Italian” only because the last stage of processing takes place in Italy, has sparked indignation among farmers. Gennarino Masiello, national vice-president of Coldiretti, forcefully declared: “We are suffering from theft of value and identity. The tomato imported from China does not have the same characteristics nor the same safety standards as Italian products, as well as not respecting the correct labor and agricultural policies. Our businesses cannot survive this unfair competition. We ask for supply chain contracts that guarantee predictability and economic sustainability above production costs. Otherwise, our businesses are destined to die.”
The protest took on symbolic forms: forty motorcycles escorted, as a sign of protest, the drums of tomato paste towards the Sarno company, which will take care of the last phase of processing and the affixing of the label with the Italian flag.
Several important figures from Coldiretti were present at the event: in addition to Gennarino Masiello, the regional president Ettore Bellelli, the regional director Salvatore Loffreda and the directors of the other provinces, including Vincenzo Tropiano, Giuseppe Miselli, Gerardo Dell’Orto, Maria Tortoriello and Annamaria Cascone, head of Coldiretti Campania women.
Ettore Bellelli, president of Coldiretti Campania, reiterated the unacceptability of the situation: “The containers arrive in Sarno and the Chinese concentrated tomato, with a simple processing, becomes Italian. We cannot accept this. We are here to ask for a change in the rules of the customs code. The origin of the raw material must be indicated on the label, to safeguard Made in Italy”.
Vincenzo Tropiano, director of Coldiretti Salerno, also expressed concern: “It is a double damage, of value and of image. It is also a deception for those foreign consumers who see products they identify as Italian arriving on their table. The same happens to our San Marzano tomato, grown in a few hectares but found falsified all over the world.”
