Guy,
It's still not clear to me what San Marzano Imports is saying about the LaBella San Marzano tomatoes. Quite possibly, pizzanapoletana (Marco) can shed some light on this.
As I previously reported, for San Marzano tomatoes to be certified DOP (Denominazione di origine protetta - Protected Denomination of Origin), they must meet certain requirements. In particular, the DOP designation is "awarded to agricultural and food products having all phases of production carried out within a delimited geographical area following an officially approved production process, and whose properties are essentially derived from their geographical environment, inclusive of natural and human factors." The San Marzano varietal tomato grown in the Vesuvius region of Agro Nocerino Sarnese is one such product.
By contrast, the BRC is a different certification process that has little to do per se with the origins of products. The BRC standards were originally established by the British Retail Consortium (hence the BRC acronym) as a way of insuring that products provided to British food retailers met certain quality standards and were safe for consumers. Originally the BRC standards applied to private branded products but later other suppliers of their branded products could apply to be qualified and certified also. One of the major benefits of the BRC standards was to substantially reduce the numbers of audits of suppliers to be sure that their products were as represented and that they were safe for consumers.
What I don't understand is if the exporter of the LaBella San Marzano tomatoes has been certified as being in compliance with the BRC standards, and if the tomatoes are the genuine San Marzano tomatoes (the varietal) and are grown in the region qualifying for the DOP certification, why not get the DOP certification? There may be a perfectly good explanation, but I don't know what it is. I don't accept the statement about DOP meaning higher prices to the consumer. Marco has already indicated (if I understood his comments correctly) that there are certain yield requirements that apply to the DOP San Marzanos that translate into higher prices. Even at that, I have been able to buy DOP San Marzano tomatoes for less than San Marzano Imports charges, an example of this being the Famoso DOP San Marzano tomatoes I bought for $2.09 a can.
Maybe there is a perverse logic in labeling the tomatoes "LaBella San Marzano" which, if you look closely at the label, is a brand name, not an indication that the tomatoes are the authentic San Marzano varietal. I still don't know what is in the can. Is it an uncertified authentic San Marzano varietal tomato, a different tomato grown in the "San Marzano" region, tomatoes grown outside of the Vesuvius area from seeds of the varietal? Or, what? If the logic is to confuse consumers, then they have done a pretty good job.
Peter
