Canned cherry tomatoes from Italy are available for sale in Australia but there is not an Australian grown product to compete.
Food processor, SPC Ardmona is planning to change that and, in a trial, has had suppliers growing cherry tomatoes to be harvested this year. The plan is to encourage consumers to buy locally grown tomatoes to reduce imports.
Tomato grower, Paul Monigatti from Rich River Tomatoes grew a trial crop this year for SPC and now he has to wait to see if consumers want or prefer the product.
"It's really important to us to have an Australian cherry tomato on the shelf to give consumers the option of buying product that's been grown in this country," said Sandra Alcock, General Manager for Sales Marketing and Innovation at SPC.
At a recent gathering of growers held by the Australian Processing Tomato Research Council a blind taste test was held to see if farmers could taste the difference. Industry Development Manager, Liz Mann said growers preferred the taste of the Australian product over the imports by a four to one ratio.
SPC Ardmona will begin to sell the canned cherry tomatoes through independent supermarkets in September.
