Farmers and food companies have been searching for the formula to obtain red, round, hard and beautiful tomatoes for years. To do this, they use the hybridisation method: they genetically manipulate the seeds to incorporate certain characteristics and be more productive. The problem is that the genetic information gets worse and the fruits of the next seeds are of poorer quality.

Hybrid seeds cannot be reproduced, they must be created artificially, the only ones that can be manipulated are multinationals specialized in genetic engineering and are patented. The leader of these multinationals is Monsanto. Farmers have to buy their seeds every year and if they try to manipulate them they run the risk of fines and prison sentences.

The seeds manipulated by Monsanto are marketed by the main tomato multinational: By the Heinz. He sells the seeds to the farmers and then buys them the tomatoes that he uses to make the Ketchup. Since all seeds are hybrids, in order to remain fertile, farmers must buy them from Heinz every year. Tomatoes are grown through intensive industrial agriculture with minimal labor, pesticides and fertilizing chemicals. According to one study, 34% of tomatoes sold worldwide in 2013 contained seeds sold by Heinz, the multinational sold 6,000 seeds.

Heinz is a processed food brand present in supermarkets around the world and promotes harmful food that destroys the local economy and harms the environment, experts say. It is part of the Kraft Heinz Company, the third largest food group in the United States and the fifth largest in the world. Heinz’s shares are owned by Warren Buffett, the majority shareholder of Coca-cola.

The promoters of organic farming warn that if we continue along the same path, human nutrition will end up in the hands of the private market. It has been explained that hybridisation compromises the natural diversity of the seeds because the seed-plantarea-fruit-seed is breaking the circle and this damages the natural seeds.