The document summarizes the production and distribution process of San Marzano tomatoes grown near Mount Vesuvius in Italy and sold by Cento in the United States. The tomatoes are grown on small family farms around Mount Vesuvius due to the fertile soil and climate. They are certified to be true San Marzano tomatoes by an Italian agency. After harvesting, the tomatoes are canned and shipped by container vessel to New Jersey ports, then transported by Cento trucks to Costco warehouses and stores in the eastern US, where they are sold exclusively.

1. Katz 1
Jack Katz
Prof. Zach Petersen
NCLC 102
December 5, 2015
Food Book Chapter Two
The canned tomatoes that my family typically cooks with are San Marzano, produced by
a company called by Cento, which is based out of Campania, Italy, near Naples. According to the
company’s website, these tomatoes are grown at the base of Mount Vesuvius, mostly because of
the temperate climate and the very fertile soil. Just how they got from there to our kitchen table
in Falls Church, Virginia is an interesting example of global networks and a microcosm for food
production the world over.
Production
In terms of location, Agro Sarnese-Nocerino, the area around Mt. Vesuvius, is pretty
ideal because of the climate of Central Italy and the volcanic ash in the soil, which gives the
tomatoes their unique taste (Burden). These plum tomatoes are considered to be among the
world's best variety by many of the cooks who have used them. And they are subject to tough
regulation and certification. "San Marzano is grown in a Denominazione d'Origine Protetta, or
D.O.P (Protected Denomination of Origin). Only tomatoes grown here are truly San Marzano"
(Blechman). According to Joseph Cristella IV, the Chief Operating Officer of Cento, the
tomatoes are grown on twenty-seven farms in an area roughly the size of South Jersey, around
two thousand nine hundred sixty four square miles. The farms are small operations, but are
grouped together in that they all give their tomatoes to Cento for a profit.
The tomatoes are so prized that Italian police, in 2010, seized roughly one thousand tons

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of false tomatoes being passed off as authentic. The European Union is hard-core when it comes
to San Marzano tomatoes; in fact, in order to be classified as official, the tomatoes must pass a
battery of tests. In addition, the system is highly regulated, from the seeds to labels. The agency
that certifies the tomatoes are in fact from San Marzano, is the Protection Consortium of “San
Marzano Tomato” of the Agro Sarnese-Nocerino area. This agency certifies the tomatoes have
met the requirements to be considered legitimate, such as location of growth, color, density and
the like. The reason for this is that there are many tomatoes that growers claim to be San
Marzano, but are not, mostly due to the fact that there is such a high demand for them that there
is always money to be made.
Distribution
One source I managed to obtain with the help of my father was Rita Burden, Cento's
Sales Coordinator in West Deptford, New Jersey. She answered many of the questions I had
regarding the distribution of San Marzano tomatoes, including how they come from Italy to a
store, in this case a Costco near where I live. According to Ms. Burden, only one crop of
tomatoes is produced any given year, which drastically affects the price of them. This is where
the whole idea of supply and demand comes in: if a crop is good, the prices will dip, but if only
about half or seventy percent are good, the prices will shoot up. Even when the crop is good, the
prices may still remain high, because of their single crop yield and quality.
The local farmers, called “contadini”, harvest these prized tomatoes. The contadini are
mostly men over fifty. (Blechman). After the tomatoes are picked and delivered to the factory,
they are cleaned, processed, canned and loaded on trucks to be moved to the docks at Naples
(Dei Cento). Once there, they are put on ships bound only for the U.S. None are shipped
elsewhere, according to Cristella.

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While it was difficult to find source material on the environmental impact of farming
these tomatoes in Italy, the mode of transportation, container ships, potentially holds significant
environmental impact implications. In the aftermath of the cruise ship Costa Concordia running
aground in Italian waters in 2012, "The prospect of a similar incident involving a container
vessel, which might carry 18,000 containers, “is one of our nightmares at the moment,” said
Capt. Rahul Khanna, a Allianz marine-risk consultant. Khanna cited estimates by salvage
operators that it could take two years just to remove the containers from such a large
vessel, assuming it were possible at all" (Millman).
The ships carrying San Marzanos arrive at one of two East Cost ports: New York City or
Elizabeth, New Jersey. From there, a freight forwarder takes them to a nearby Cento facility in
West Deptford, New Jersey. There the cans are placed in triple packs, which only Costco stores
in the Eastern U.S. sell.
From there, Cento uses its own trucks to ship the cans to a Costco distribution center
(Burden) for eventual delivery to individual stores.
Consumption:
During the course of my research, I found one minor example of shading, "the process of
slanting or highlighting certain kinds of information, particularly those that shift attention away
from externalized costs" (Wilk). It is an attempt to keep a small truth hidden or disguised in
order to help maximize profits. A Cento competitor, Contadina, for example, has an attractive
young woman depicted on the can, suggesting a role in tomato production. But the contadini are
actually older men who farm and harvest the crop of San Marzanos, and Cento opts to shows the
tomatoes, not the old men, on the label.
Distancing, "the separation of customers from their products-using four dimensions:

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geography, culture, bargaining power, and multiple agencies" (Wilk) is certainly part of this
commodity chain. San Marzanos are specific to just one region in the world, and therefore are
tied uniquely to its culture. As for bargaining power, Italy and Cento hold the cards, as they are
the ones who bring the tomatoes from production to shelves. As for agencies, there is really only
one that certifies these tomatoes as legitimate, and Cento is the only company/agency that
distributes the tomatoes.
Wilk also describes substitution as when "one source is substituted for another or a series
of others", evidenced by other tomatoes that are claimed to be San Marzano. Appropriation,
when "one particular agent claims credit as the source", is particularly strong in this example, as
only Cento handles production and distribution of the tomatoes.
In conclusion, some questions for further research include: are the current systems of
production and distribution sustainable---environmentally, economically, and equitably?
Environmentally, the current systems will work for the foreseeable future, as there is only one
crop, which is pretty small compared to others, such as soybeans, that are destroying forests to
clear space for them. Also, the shipping can basically be done very well by using container ships
which can carry a lot without drastically affecting the environment unless they sink.
Economically, it is very sustainable, as the small crop yield each year, combined with the
high demand, increases the power they have in the market place and keeps them moving along in
high demand with consumers. In fact, other companies have gone to great lengths to try to get a
piece of the action, to the point that Italy had to set up a consortium to make sure that the
tomatoes were in fact, true San Marzano tomatoes.
Equitably, San Marzano tomatoes are sustainable. Although I could not find the actual
pay rates the farmers receive, they keep coming back to plant and grow the tomatoes, and

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nothing in my research told me the pay was inadequate. Also, the fact that the Italian economy
benefits from the importing fee the U.S. has to pay certainly helps them stay equitably sound.
Reflecting back, the most surprising thing I learned through this experience was the
unique way these tomatoes are considered San Marzano: they have to be grown in a specific area
that is the size of south Jersey, be hand picked, have certain densities and the like to be an
official San Marzano tomato that Cento will buy. This brings up a question for further research
though: is this kind of relationship between companies and the foods they harvest conventional?
If it is, how pervasive is it, considering something to only be official if it is grown in a certain
area?
The second thing that surprised me was that other companies actually tried to pass off
their products as "official" in order to get in on the action. It struck me as strange given how
large the market for tomatoes is with professional chefs and amateurs who like to cook, that
companies would actually go full bore in trying to imitate Cento's location, by either passing
them off as at least Italian grown, even if they are grown in the U.S. or by trying to pass them off
as official even though they were grown elsewhere.
The final thing that surprised me was that there is only one crop grown per year. I thought
that was strange because Cento is putting all their eggs in one basket: if that crop fails because of
a fungus or some other problem, it would have almost nothing to use for tomatoes until the next
year. Granted, the company still has other products like olive oil to fall back on, but the product
they are most known for would be conspicuously absent from store shelves.

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Works Cited:
Blechman, Nicholas. "The Mystery of San Marzano." The New York Times. The New York
Times, 15 Aug. 2015. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.
Burden, Rita. Personal interview. 1 Dec. 2015.
Cristella IV, Joseph. Personal interview. 4 Dec. 2015.
Dei Cento, Accademia. "San Marzano Tomato Production." YouTube. YouTube, 2 Oct. 2012.
Web. 1 Dec. 2015.
"America's Favorite San Marzano Tomato." America's Favorite San Marzano Tomato. 2015.
Web. 30 Nov. 2015.
Millman, Gregory. "Bigger Container Ships Pose Bigger Risks." WSJ. The Wall Street Journal, 8
Feb. 2015. Web. 4 Dec. 2015.
Wilk, Richard. "Anchovy Sauce and Pickled Tripe: Exporting Civilized Food in the Colonial
Atlantic World." Food Chains. U of Pennsylvania, 2008. 87-107. Print.