The well-known Cento can can be found on a middle shelf in any well-stocked Italian supermarket in Brooklyn or Boston. Pale red letters on a yellow label with the tiny word “certified” nestled above “San Marzano.” That concludes the discussion for the majority of home cooks. Get it, put it in the cart, then go home to prepare Sunday gravy. In essence, the new class action complaint filed in California on May 4 asks whether the phrase “certified” has been used more for marketing purposes than for legal purposes for years, or if that silent act of faith has been earned.
The plaintiffs argue that Cento’s use of the word implies official recognition by the Consorzio di Tutela del Pomodoro San Marzano dell’Agro Sarnese-Nocerino, the body that governs the actual DOP-protected designation under European Union rules. Champagne, Parmigiano Reggiano, and Prosciutto di Parma are all protected by the same legal framework.
Tomatoes must be cultivated in a designated area at the foot of Mount Vesuvius and prepared according to stringent guidelines in order to be sold legally. The complaint alleges Cento’s product, despite the prominent labelling, doesn’t actually meet that bar, and calls the brand the primary culprit of what it bluntly describes as tomato fraud in the United States.
| Cento San Marzano Lawsuit — Snapshot | Details |
|---|---|
| Defendant | Cento Fine Foods |
| Headquarters | New Jersey, United States |
| Action Type | Proposed class action |
| Court | Federal court, California |
| Complaint Filed | May 4, 2026 |
| Core Allegation | Misleading “certified” San Marzano labeling |
| Sought Restitution | At least $25 million |
| Tomato Variety | San Marzano plum tomato |
| Authentic Origin Region | Sarnese-Nocerino, southern Italy |
| EU Protected Status | Protected Designation of Origin (DOP) |
| Certifying Body | Consorzio di Tutela del Pomodoro San Marzano dell’Agro Sarnese-Nocerino |
| Cento’s Position | Claims meritless; intends to seek dismissal |
| Prior Similar Case | New York federal lawsuit, dismissed in 2020 |
| Common Reference Source | Martha Stewart’s website |
The legal claim is paired with the kind of cultural framing that lawyers love because it pre-loads the jury’s intuition. The complaint quotes Martha Stewart’s website calling San Marzano tomatoes the Ferrari or Prada of canned tomatoes. It’s a remarkable line that most likely captures the sentiment of loyalists. There’s a particular tribe of home cooks who can taste the difference between a true San Marzano sauce and one made with a generic Roma, and they tend to pay roughly twice as much for the privilege. The lawsuit is essentially saying that loyalty was sold something that didn’t quite match its premium price tag.
Cento has been here before. Citing third-party audits of its Italian fields and farmers in the Sarnese-Nocerino region, the business vigorously resisted a similar class action in 2019. In 2020, that case was finally dropped. The same stance is being used to address the current concern.
Good Morning America was informed by Cento’s lawyer that the corporation will seek swift dismissal and that the new lawsuit is completely without substance. Reading both declarations side by side gives the impression that, despite significant changes in the consumer-protection environment around food labeling, the legal strategy hasn’t altered much in five years.
Whether Cento’s tomatoes are objectively poor isn’t what makes this argument compelling. According to most accounts, they are excellent canned plum tomatoes, and chefs who don’t give a damn about the DOP status frequently compliment them. The question is more limited and unfamiliar. If a brand isn’t certified by the organization that most people would presume that phrase refers to, can it still use the word “certified” in conjunction with “San Marzano”? In contrast to European law,
American food law has always been ambiguous on these geographical-origin issues. Before California sparkling wine makers started using the phrase informally, champagne producers in the United States had to fight similar battles for decades.
It’s difficult to ignore the broader atmosphere here. Due in part to restaurants’ demands and in part to food media’s training of consumers to read labels more skeptically, consumers are paying more attention to provenance than they did ten years ago. It will likely depend more on how a federal judge in California interprets the marketing language than on the chemistry of the tomatoes if the lawsuit is successful or fails like its 2020 precursor.
The majority of chefs will continue to purchase the cans that are currently on the shelves. But the conversation about what “certified” actually means in the American food aisle has just been opened, again, and it isn’t likely to close cleanly this time either.
