Parma (Italy) (AFP)
Under the sun, thousands of tomatoes parade on treadmills before becoming pulp or concentrated: the Italian king of the tomato transformed, Mutti, wants to be exemplary with its producers and in terms of quality, in a highly criticized sector.
In its factory near Parma (north), trucks arrive from a hundred miles maximum to the round. Just before unloading, a 15-kilogram sample is subjected to a test of about fifteen criteria. If they are not filled, the shipment is refused.
"We are paying a lot more for farmers by asking for a much better quality," says AFP Francesco Mutti, the fourth generation to run the company created by his great-grandfather Marcellino 120 years ago.
Born in one of the basins of the tomato, the brand with two lions is an "Italian success story". It was in Mutti that we owe the first tube of tomato paste in 1951, then the first canned tomato pulp in 1971.
When Francesco Mutti succeeded his father Marcello in 1994, the company only has 25 to 30 employees, for a turnover of 10 million euros.
The jump has since been colossal: last year, the group, which now employs more than 500 people to which are added 1,200 seasonal summer, recorded sales of 308 million euros, up 16.7% over a year.
- "Joy and suffering" -
Tenth largest tomato processor in the world, far behind the behemoths like Heinz, Mutti still has a market share of 10.6% in Europe.
It is leader in Italy, with 29.4% of the market, and also in value in France (14% of the market) while in volume, Panzani exceeds it by a hair.
In the first half, "we had a growth of 13% and we want to maintain this growth" in double digits, says Francesco Mutti, recognizing that production targets will not be achieved this year due to adverse weather conditions.
Tomato for him? "A great joy but also a great suffering", as in recent days when the plant was stopped because of the rain, recognizes this jovial man of 50 years, who wears favorites and braces. The tomato "constellates all (its) existence" and its childhood memories.
In an Italian agricultural sector with a degraded image due to exploitation of the labor force, with the phenomenon of the "corporalato", Mutti was also touched in 2015 when a Sudanese worker died while working in a field of Puglia (south) by 40 degrees.
The company became a civil party at trial because its supplier had ensured compliance with the rules on working conditions.
- Precursor -
As a result, as it already does in northern Italy, Mutti, whose tomatoes are 100% Italian, has only been buying fruits from fully mechanized crops in the South.
With the machines, the plants are torn off and separated from the fruits, limiting the labor to the driver and some employees performing a first sorting.
An "ethical" measure alongside others: a price paid to farmers 12 to 14% higher than the average in the North and up to 30% in the South; a certification without GMOs; a collaboration with the WWF NGO to reduce its water use and carbon footprint, and a commitment to sustainable agriculture. Even if he produces organic food only in a limited way.
Gabriele Boscoli and her family have been working for Mutti for 18 years.
"Proud" of this collaboration, he believes that the Pomodorino d'Oro ("The little golden tomato"), a prize created by Mutti to reward each year the best tomato producers, is "very important because it allows to have a premium and pushes for quality ".
"The way in which Francesco Mutti organized the industry was extraordinary, from the ethical pact with the producers, to the 100% of obligatory mechanization to avoid the + corporalato +, through the certification of the origin with the traceability of the products or the permanent product innovation ", AFP analysis Carlo Alberto Carnevale-Maffè, professor of strategy at Bocconi University in Milan.
"He anticipated 10-15 years ago the trend towards transparency, traceability (...) He did not do it in a kind of + green washing + (good green conscience, ed), it's really its DNA, "says the economist.
© 2019 AFP