“Oltenesti” tomatoes, sold at double the price of the same tomatoes (but presented, really, from Italy) existing in supermarkets!

A researcher and promoter of the Country of Silvania, Mircea Groza, showed where he got with “the hoax” with the tomatoes from Olten, which we see in the markets, but which are brought from… Italy. The difference is that in the markets they are sold for 35 lei per kilogram, being presented straight “Ia quality”while in supermarkets you can find the same tomatoes for… 17.99 lei/kg, with the mention that they are from Italy and are second quality.

The topic launched by Mircea Groza can be widely debated. Because it’s not just about fooling around with “Olten tomatoes”, but also a real complaint against consumers. Imagine that these tomatoes, referred to, can be found at 9 lei/kg in wholesale warehouses! Now do you understand who determines the price of the market in such a situation, that anyone can find that food products are more expensive here than abroad?!

“Some tomatoes are improperly called “Oltenesti”. We call them that only because they were brought to the Transylvanian markets by producers from Olten, Teleorman, etc.

They are actually tomatoes of the ‘PREKOS’ variety. Those red “cheeky” ones.

Yesterday I saw in a shop on my street the same tomatoes as those in the market. The label clearly says that they are from Italy and the price is 17.99 lei. In another store nearby, the same, “Italy tomatoes, 16.80 lei. In the market, the label says “Oltenesti tomatoes” and the price is 35 lei.

The same tomato!

I strongly support the local producers, the honest ones! I always buy from farmers I know and know to be fair. Unfortunately, they are fewer and fewer.

But I can’t accept being lied to! To be told that there are “Oltenia” tomatoes on the stall when I know precisely that there, in Oltenia, there are no tomatoes for sale yet. And they do this to justify the high prices.

I have information from those who are in the field that these Bulgarian-Dutch Prekos tomatoes are in wholesale warehouses in Romania and the price is around 9 lei! Of course, there is a surcharge like at any merchant, but from 9 lei to 35 seems excessive to me. It seems that the prices are even higher in the markets of Bucharest. Especially since these tomatoes are not of the best quality due to the growth supplements they are treated with.

But most buyers think they are “Olten reds”.

Don’t you find it curious that these days in the markets of Zalău and Cluj we still don’t meet the real sellers of “Olten tomatoes”? You mean the Oltenians? They will only come when they have their tomatoes, their production, many times of quality!

And I have another puzzlement. Who checks the quality of the products on the stalls in the Romanian markets. “Bio”, “organic”, “traditional” labels are popping up everywhere. Who certifies these qualifications? Who checks the producers and guarantees that their products are really ‘organic’.”explained Mircea Groza.