McDonald’s, the Pachino Tomato will also be on the menu

There will soon be a newcomer to the house McDonald’s. In fact, an agreement was signed with the Protection Consortium for the purchase of 250,000 kilograms a year of Pachino tomato. Italian excellence will thus enter the menu of the most fast food chain important to the world.

McDonald’s and the Pachino tomato

The memorandum of understanding between between McDonald’sil Consortium for the protection of the Pachino IGP tomato and the Qualivita Foundation (Foundation for the enhancement of the sector of PDO PGI TSG agri-food and wine products) was signed under the auspices of the Ministry of Agriculture.

It requires the chain to make a commitment to purchase approx 250mila chili of product every twelve months. Next October will start a promotion plan of the tomato which should appear, at least initially, in two references on the McDonald’s menu.

The crisis of the Pachino tomato

Il Pachino tomatoIndeed, he is going through a delicate moment. Global warming and the economic crisis have in fact dealt a severe blow to production, considered at risk.

Some time ago the manufacturers of the Consortium they had complained about the difficulty of reaching agreements with the buyers due to a price that was too low. The picture they gave to the press, which they spoke to, was gloomy tons of unsold product and remained on the plants. Very few especially the orders from the GMO which instead addresses the problem of not being able to contain prices for the final consumer.

The appeal of many businesses at risk of closure it then arrived on the Government table. And the agreement with McDonald’s was considered providential to buffer the situation.

The controversy with Slowfood

McDonald’s for its part is investing heavily in the Italian supply chain. The CEO Dario Baroni, he spoke of a commitment aimed at supporting Italian supply chains, emphasizing that by now 85 percent of suppliers come from the agri-food sector of the Belpaese.

However, not everyone agrees with this type of support. of the last few hours, the intervention of Slowfood which issued a press release criticizing, for example, the collaboration between Coldiretti and McDonald’s which provides for the development of a supply chain of sustainable Italian beef: “The agreement between the main national agricultural organization and the world’s largest fast food chain can have a important commercial value and can give economic answers to productive realities in crisis – the association says – but it cannot be presented as a cultural and social operation that leads to excellence, to the enhancement of #biodiversity and the #madeinItaly, to #sustainability, to #animal welfare”.

The note continues: biodiversity is diversity of plant species and varieties, of animal breeds, of pollinating insects, of the microorganisms that make the soil alive, of the knowledge underlying thousands of breads, cheeses and cured meats. It is the diversity of life, the only richness that will allow us to face the environmental and climate crisis. Therefore, she must be taken very seriously. It has nothing to do with marketing operations to Italianize, with local ingredients, a gastronomic formula that represents the most standardized the global food industry has ever conceived”.