CORONAVIRUS ANICAV Processed tomato remains a safe product and a Made in Italy symbol

ANICAV, the National Association of Industrial Vegetable Food Preserves - representing over 100 member companies that make it the largest association representing tomato processing companies in the world by number of members and quantity of processed product - responds to requests from abroad of extra quality certifications for tomatoes processed in these days of national emergency by Coronavirus.

Giovanni De Angelis, General Manager of ANICAV: "In these days foreign customers have received requests for additional certifications from the transformation companies regarding the safety and health of our products, in particular as regards the risk of infection with Covid-19. Additional certifications are to be considered absolutely useless, as the processed tomato is a perfectly safe product thanks to the particular industrial transformation processes and thanks to the techniques used in the processing phases. Furthermore, the entire process of processing the raw material - from collection to canning - is controlled and guaranteed according to hygiene-sanitary protocols, with personnel subjected to strict safety protocols and takes place with the aid of high temperatures, in sanitized processing environments and with the use of sterilized machinery. Furthermore, there is no danger of contamination for the product which, being natural acidic mind, creates difficult life for the proliferation of microorganisms. Finally, after closing, each box is subjected to further sterilization with the microbiological and enzymatic inactivation of the content ".

"In these days also EFSA - adds De Angelis - has declared that there is no evidence that food is the likely source or route of transmission of the virus. Italian tomato represents excellence and has always been considered a symbol of Made in Italy in the world, whose goodness and wholesomeness is universally recognized ".

ANICAV

ANICAV, National Association of Industrial Vegetable Food Preserves, born in Naples on February 5, 1945, is the largest association representing tomato processing companies in the world by number of member companies and quantity of processed product. It associates 80 companies out of 110 operating on the national territory that process about 70% of all the tomato processed in Italy and almost all of the whole peeled tomato produced in the world, with a turnover, in 2019, of 2.5 billion euros ( equal to over 75% of the total turnover of the Italian tomato processing sector). About 60% of the production is destined for export both to Europe (Germany, France, the United Kingdom) and to other countries (USA, Japan, Australia) making tomato an ambassador of Made in Italy excellence