Popular Italian food brand sued over its canned tomatoes
A class-action lawsuit has been lodged against a beloved Italian tomato brand, alleging a $4.99 product misleads buyers and ‘does not meet’ certain strict food standards.
On Monday (4 May), two Californian residents filed a suit against Cento Fine Foods, a New Jersey-based manufacturer which produces 28 oz tins of ‘Cento Certified San Marzano Tomatoes’.
The Plaintiff’s claim that the company has engaged in ‘tomato fraud’ by exhibiting ‘false, misleading and unfair’ information on its label.
As per the suit, Cento’s label designs ‘falsely convey’ that its San Marzano tomatoes are grown in the traditional method and are certified by the Consorzio di Tutela del Pomodoro San Marzano dell’Agro Sarnese-Nocerino.
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The latter controls the sale of San Marzano tomatoes and makes sure they are grown in the Sarnese-Nocerino area of Italy, located in the Campania region near Naples.
Instead, the filing alleges that the tinned tomatoes do not fulfil the proper quality standards to be certified as San Marzanos.
This usually includes being grown in the volcanic soils of San Marzano, Italy, and being harvested by hand.
The lawsuit, filed by two customers, reported that the ‘inferior’ item in question did ‘not meet’ the standard of the Consortium and that it also lacks the quality, taste and other characteristics associated with the real fruit, CBS News reported.
Plaintiffs claimed they would ‘never’ purchase the tomatoes at the premium price ‘if they had known they were inauthentic’.
They also pointed out that Cento Fine Foods’ website claims its San Marzanos are ‘certified by an independent third-party agency that ensures the proper varietals and correct growing locations of our tomatoes’.
The complaint listed the agency that provided the third-party seal of approval as Agri-Cert.
As this is not the Consortium, it allegedly makes the certification ineligible.
Customers who have filed the grievance are seeking $25 million or more to be paid out to the class members, as per People Magazine.
$500 is also demanded to be paid out to each Plaintiff ‘in restitution, damages, punitive damages, and interest’ along with an additional $10,000.
The suit is also seeking $500,000 for attorney fees and costs, among other demands, the publication wrote.
Cento Fine Foods has refuted the claims against its product in a statement to Good Morning America.
“We believe this claim is entirely without merit. We have previously successfully defended a comparable lawsuit in New York federal court and will defend this claim vigorously as well, including seeking prompt dismissal.”
FOODbible has contacted Cento Fine Foods for comment.
A similar claim was brought against Cento in 2019. At the time, the business said it disproved of claims that the tomatoes were ‘not genuine;, stating that they were approved by an independent third party.
The case was dismissed in 2020 with a judge stating a ‘reasonable customer’ was unlikely to seek out San Marzano tomatoes certified by the Consortium versus those that meet the same standards but are certified by a third party, as per GMA.
Ella Scott