Sourcing & Sustainability

Napolinas tomato growing process

Jan - Feb The Seeds are planted

Our sun-rich, juicy tomatoes are all grown in Sothern Italy and begin their journey when the seeds are planted in nurseries and into small plants, ready to be transferred outside once the warmer weather arrives. Being bordered by the Mediterranean Sea, Southern Italy has the perfect conditions to produce the best pomodori under the Italian sun!

Apr - JunGrowing the tomatoes

The tomato plants are transferred into the fields and nurtured by our farmers and agronomists. Our unrivalled expertise and passion for the best sees us work alongside our farmers to apply the latest technologies to reduce water consumption and use satellite scanners to follow the growth of our tomatoes, step-by-step.

Jul - Sep Bringing in the harvest

Our tomatoes are then harvested throughout the summer, with careful management ensuring they are picked at peak ripeness for that perfect, intensely juicy taste. Our farmers are on average, only 30 kilometres from our factory in Foggia, Puglia, ensuring their freshness when they arrive and are swiftly packed in cans - just one reason we’re the UK’s favourite tomatoes brand!

Jul - SepCanning the tomatoes

To ensure quality, our tomatoes are quickly, but carefully sorted and canned at our Foggia factory, which processes over 300,000 tonnes of tomatoes a year! We aim to produce zero waste within this production process and also ensure our precious canned tomatoes are packed in infinitely recyclable cans!

Aug onwardsTracking their journey to shop shelves

Once canned, our tomatoes then make the final leg of their journey to shop shelves, ready to be the star of the show in your next Spaghetti Alla Bolognese. Next time you pick up a can, scan the QR code to track it’s journey from the sun-soaked fields of southern Italy to the (probably less sun-soaked) cupboard in your kitchen. They’re not just tomatoes, they’re a revelation.

GROWN IN PUGLIA, ITALY

Napolina tomatoes are canned in the Puglian province of Foggia, which is the largest tomato growing region of Italy. Foggia itself is known as ‘Il Tavoliere’ (The Table) due to being a naturally elevated plain just above sea level, allowing the breeze to regulate the heat of the sun.

The sourcing of Napolina tomatoes from local farmers not only ensures their freshness when they get to our processing site in Foggia but it also enables us to invest in our local community.

Responsibly Sourced

Our overriding commitment to the quality of ingredients means that we will never cut corners or compromise in any way. From planting to harvesting and processing we are proud of the ethical and transparent ways of working with all partners in our supply chain.

We have also partnered with Provenance, an organisation that helps us prove and verify all of the claims we make. This means you can click through to see the proof behind what we say. This information is also accessible from your can of tomatoes.

OUR COMMITMENT TO UPHOLDING HUMAN RIGHTS

Everyone at Napolina is committed to upholding and respecting human rights and improving the lives of workers in our supply chain. In addition to auditing and risk assessing our suppliers we collaborate with a number of organisations within the food industry to learn and share best practice approaches to tackle industry wide issues such as forced labour and modern slavery.

ENSURING FAIR WORKING PRACTICES & CONDITIONS

We know that illegal labour and treatment of workers is an issue in Italian agriculture is a key issue and that migrants are particularly vulnerable. It’s a well-documented issue which Napolina publically acknowledges and has taken steps to tackle. Ours are the only Italian tomatoes where prices are independently calculated to deliver fair returns for growers and ensure fair and legal wages can afford to be paid to all workers, including seasonal harvest labourers.

OUR ONGOING COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABLE FARMING

We continue to work to improve the social and environmental impact of our tomato supply chain. Our collaboration with Coldiretti, Italys largest agricultural union, and organisations such as Oxfam Italia and the Ethical Trading Initiative support us in our aim to make lasting social and environmental improvements in our Italian tomato supply chain.

Packaging sustainability

OILS BOTTLES

At Napolina we are committed to sourcing high quality olive oil and strive to make our packaging as sustainable as possible. As well as being recyclable after use, we also ensure that our bottles are manufactured using recycled plastics. As such, we have saved over 182 tonnes of virgin plastic since February 2022*, when we began to manufacture all our screw-top olive oil bottles using 100% recycled plastic**, compared to the 51% recycled plastic previously used.

PASTA BOXES

In 2019, 230m non-recyclable pasta bags were thrown away in the UK. As the UK’s number one pasta brand, we understand our responsibility to limit our impact on the environment. In 2020, as part of our commitment to transparency and sustainability, we moved our entire pasta range into cardboard packaging. The pasta boxes are recyclable and will eliminate up to 96 tonnes of plastic from the UK waste stream each year. ***

CANS

Most of our tomatoes, beans and pulses are packed in cans, which maintains their quality for years without the need for preservatives. Our metal cans are infinitely recyclable, making them a more sustainable option than other packaging types. Recycled cans can be made into objects like bikes, cars or another can, which can be back on the shelf within 8 weeks. ****

Do you want to try our products

Explore Our Range

*Over 182 tonnes of virgin plastic has been saved within our screw-top olive oil bottle since we moved to 100% rPET, from 51% rPET bottles in February 2022. Calculations based on sales volume from this time up until April 2024.

**excludes caps, labels and bottle colourants

*** Plastic saving based on moving from plastic bags to paper boxes and calculated from 2023 annual Napolina pasta sales.

**** Sourced from Love Canned Food