Ökotest: Tomatoes from Spain will come to your gain*

Agricultural engineer Carmen Nicolas on control

"Very good, SanLucar!" It is not us, saying that, but Ökotest.About our strawberries, then about our tomatoes. And because it confirms us in doing our job well, we are very pleased by that, of course. What are we doing to get there? For SanLucar fruit and vegetables to be healthy and stay so, we only plant varieties, which flourish to their optimum in the climate of the producing area. Plus, we choose the best farmland only, so that the plants are strong and sturdy enough to withstand weather conditions and pests.

When an overdimensional loss to the harvest is threatening, we sometimes have to give our plants extra support though, and we preferably do so with biological means. Very rarely do we use pesticides which meet legislation. In that special case, my team and I together with the local farmer discuss, what agent to use and in what quantity. Always strictly following the directives of every country do we offer our products. For instance, no matter where your tomatoes come from – Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany – for the German market they will satisfy the criteria of the German legislation, with SanLucar's own guidelines being even stricter.

So in the exceptional case of using a pesticide we strictly stick to the preset guidelines, so that the agent degrades, for instance through evaporation. Only after a final check and clearance by an independent state-run lab, is the fruit harvested and packed.

(Download1:) * Ökotest Issue 06/2006 for download here
(Download2:) Mehr über die vielen SanLucar Tomatensorten gibt's hier.