The Internet’s Favorite Fancy Tomatoes Are Being Accused of “Tomato Fraud”

Food disputes can get incredibly litigious, and the first half of 2026 has seen no shortage of lawsuits concerning products and retailers. Since January, Costco has been sued for allegedly mislabeling its rotisserie chicken, Buffalo Wild Wings has resolved a lawsuit that accused it of not using real chicken in its boneless wings, and Trader Joe’s has been sued after customers stated that it potentially misled people about its coffee’s caffeine content. The connective tissue between all of these lawsuits, and indeed many food lawsuits, is that they concern misrepresentation. 

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Now, new legal action has been filed against Cento Fine Foods, with customers alleging that the tomatoes in one of its canned products are not the authentic San Marzano variety that so many people associate with premium quality. Let’s discuss. 

San Marza-No 

According to CBS News, the new lawsuit against Cento Fine Foods (which also makes anchovies and jarred pesto) has been logged by two California residents, who state that the “Certified San Marzano” label on one of its tomato products is “false, misleading and unfair.” The lawsuit claims that the labels on the manufacturer’s San Marzano tomatoes suggest that they have a DOP (Protected Designation of Origin) certification, which governs production and quality standards for the San Marzano tomato variety, as well as for other items like Parmesan cheese and olive oil. 

Cento’s tomatoes, though, are certified by Agri-Cert, a different organization under ISO, or the International Organization for Standardization. As its website states, “ISO is an independent, non-governmental, international organization not affiliated with any consortium, agency or DOP/PDO.”

According to the lawsuit, this difference isn’t adequately reflected on its labels. Thus, it states that the company uses its designs to “falsely convey they are the famous San Marzano tomato grown in the traditional method and certified by [the] Consortium,” which could constitute misrepresentation to its customers, who assume that they’re getting a DOP-certified product. 

History Repeats Itself

For its part, Cento goes into a lot of detail about how its tomatoes are grown and processed, and it demonstrates an openness to showing the traceability of its products. Nonetheless, this is the second lawsuit in recent memory concerning its San Marzano tomatoes. The company was hit with two previous lawsuits in 2019 that accused it of misrepresenting its tomatoes. In 2020, the case against Cento was dismissed – but now, it looks like the issue is rearing its head again. Will this lawsuit succeed? Will it be dismissed once more? We’ll have to wait and find out.