This is a BBC story about tomato Paste produced with slave labour in China being sold as Italian produce. What are the odds that the US and Canada, who are great users of tomato paste, are in fact importing the same product.
How to hold producers accountable…
(and not talk about bloody Trump for a change)
Ah it seems you didn’t read the article “all those sold in the US” were Italian and not Chinese. They didn’t test any Canadian brands probably because Canada doesn’t matter.
I believe most store brands in the US are produced in Canada BTW
Business are getting more deceptive about the origin of their products, specifically about China. I think this is a sign that consumers are, hopefully, caring more about where things are made (though Temu, Alibaba and eBay sellers are doing just fine).
I was looking at purchasing a pellet smoker, but didn’t want one made in China. For a number of well known brands, figuring out the origin was very difficult. Lots of " foreign and domestic parts" labeling, doublespeak and vaguely worded responses. What I learned is all smokers at certain price point are made in China, no matter what they want to tell you.
From the article.
While the US has introduced strict legislation to ban all Xinjiang exports,
Bazhou Red Fruit shares a phone number with Xinjiang Guannong, and other evidence, including shipping data analysis, suggests that Bazhou is its shell company.
The lab results suggested many of these products did indeed contain Italian tomatoes - including all those sold in the US,
Italian tomato paste is sold in Canada and the United States, including brands like Mutti, Oro di Parma, and Favuzzi:
Aaaah there you are, back to your usual. For a moment there you posted some sensible things and I thought that like Scrooge and the Grinch allowing for the season and Thanksgiving, you had had a remarkable return to something resembling normal. But obviously the 12 step programs aren’t enough and you’ve gone back to being Mr. Hyde.
Not to mention the article was talking more about puree than paste.
Although I suspect it wasn’t meant to be take literally, referring to any manufacturers of tomato products.
Tom-ay-tos…To-mah-tos
What is tomato puree in the UK?
Tomato purée is a thick, red paste or concentrate made from crushed tomato pulp that has been cooked and reduced. It is widely produced and used in Mediterranean countries, where it is added to dishes to give them a bright colour and a pronounced tomato flavour.
Heinz makes all its tomato paste in California using California tomatoes. Or you could buy French’s ketchup which is made from southern ontario tomatoes and substitute it for paste. Or you could make your own from local tomatoes.
Source Certain then compared those country profiles with the 64 tomato purees we wanted to test - the majority of which claimed to contain Italian tomatoes or gave the impression they did - and a few which did not make any origin claim.
The lab results suggested many of these products did indeed contain Italian tomatoes - including all those sold in the US, top Italian brands including Mutti and Napolina, and some German and UK supermarket own-brands, including those sold by Sainsbury’s and Marks & Spencer.
Also the version of the story I read didn’t mention Canada…maybe a different edition