Processed tomato producers: their organisations and measures to promote quality and environment

Abstract

The Council Regulation (EC) Nº 2200/96 for processed tomato producer organisations (PO) and producer groups (PG), oriented their actions according to main objectives, like improvement of product quality and promoting the use of cultivation practices, production techniques and environmentally sound waste-management practices in particular to protect the quality of water, soil and landscape and preserve and/or encourage biodiversity.

So, since the nineties, the processed tomato production has received subsidies to satisfy the exigencies of the Common Organization of the Market in terms of quality, safety and traceability of the production contracted with the industry.

An enquiry to the PO and the PG was carried out with the goal to understand how the organized structures of processed tomato producers answer this challenge.

The results show: a) the traceability is largely adopted; b) the increase of tomatos Brix degree and its control are not generalized; c) the extent of adherence to environmental practices is small. However, the results show that an important part of PO adhered to exigent and innovating rules.