From the Field to Your Kitchen
Follow our delicious Italian tomatoes on their journey to you—in a can, tube, or bottle
ORO di Parma stands for 100% Italian tomatoes. That’s our promise to you—you can count on it. Have you ever wondered what the journey of a tomato looks like, from seed to bottling to your home? We’ll show you! Here you can read how our sun-ripened tomatoes are transformed into ORO di Parma’s most delicious tomato products—and why we’re proud of their outstanding quality.
It all starts with seeds and little seedlings
Actually, when it comes to growing our tomatoes, we largely let nature take its course. The Parma region offers incredibly favorable conditions for tomato plants: the climate is ideal, the sun shines at full strength—and the soils in northern Italy, north of the Apennine Mountains, are particularly fertile. Furthermore, the Emilia-Romagna region is known for its high quality standards. We consistently adhere to these standards. That’s another reason why Parma tomatoes are simply the best (in our opinion). But first, let’s talk about the seeds:
Before the little tomato seedlings are ready to go out into the field, our farmers start them off in greenhouses where they’re protected. Once they’re big enough, they’re moved out into the fields to grow into magnificent plants under the open sky, basking in the sun.
Here, they grow into delicious ORO di Parma tomatoes. We give them looooots of time to do so. Because that’s the only way they can develop their full, aromatic flavor. The warm climate, the exceptional soil quality, and our farmers’ quality controls ensure that Italian tomatoes are the clear winners in terms of taste when compared to their competition—unripe greenhouse tomatoes. For several years now, we’ve also had to give the plants a little help—climate change is causing less rainfall even in northern Italy, so we have to water our tomatoes when the weather isn’t favorable.
We harvest Parma tomatoes when they're ripe
Starting in July, the tomatoes—which are sun-ripened exclusively—are harvested using a mechanical harvester. This takes place over a very short harvest period and is done so quickly that the tomatoes are processed immediately afterward, thereby preserving their nutrients.
What’s more: To ensure the highest possible product quality, we have to process the fresh raw materials right away. After all, we’re using fully ripe tomatoes here. The harvester transports the ripe, red tomatoes directly onto the truck via a conveyor belt. The truck always follows along, which saves us time and eliminates the need to load the raw materials in a separate step.
After the harvest, it's off to the factory!
As soon as the fields are harvested and the trucks are packed to the brim, we immediately transport our tomatoes to the factory. It’s not too far away and can be reached in no time. Sensors detect quality defects in the raw produce as early as the harvest—these tomatoes are then left in the field, where they become part of the cycle again and nourish the soil like fertilizer. If any substandard tomatoes do end up on the trucks, they are electronically sorted out at the factory and disposed of.
Here’s what happens next at the factory: The tomatoes are washed, sorted, and cleaned. The raw produce floats in large tanks, moves from tank to tank, and is transported on oversized conveyor belts for further processing. And then there’s another quality check: Here, the tomatoes are sorted by hand once more before processing begins.
Bottling: How sun-ripened tomatoes from Italy are turned into your favorite ORO di Parma product
Depending on the product, the tomatoes are then peeled or seeded, for example. With our Passata Rustica, on the other hand, we process the entire tomato. Once the tomatoes have completed their journey through the factory and the various processing stages, there’s just one step left: filling. That’s when our high-quality products are packed into cans, tubes, Combiblocs, or bottles. We know every step, every tank, and every conveyor belt—and we conduct regular inspections to ensure quality and standards are met. This is how we guarantee you 100% authentic Italian ingredients and a delicious, intense flavor—made in Italy. As soon as the bottled sauces, sughi, and all other products roll off the assembly line, only one journey remains: the journey to your local supermarket. And here, too, we prioritize sustainability, because ORO di Parma products travel by train from Italy to Germany—and then straight to your table.
