Should it really take the Federal Trade Commission seven months to decide whether to approve Campbell Soup Co.’s proposed $2.7 billion acquisition of Sovos Brands Inc? The FTC has been ruminating on this since last August, when the deal was announced, and is expected to announce its decision in March.

The issue, according to Bloomberg Intelligence, is whether Campbell’s Prego brand of sauces overlaps with Rao’s Homemade, owned by Sovos. Campbell has an 18.7% share of the $2.5 billion US pasta sauce market, and Sovos has 17.8%. Together, they would outstrip the current market leader Mizkan, which owns the Ragu and Bertolli brands and accounts for 22.9%.

If the FTC sticks to its history of regarding bargain and premium brands as separate categories in the food market, the acquisition will likely go ahead. For comparison, a 23-ounce jar of Prego Marinara Spaghetti Sauce sells for $2.10 on Walmart.com, while an ounce larger jar of Rao’s Homemade goes for more than three times as much. (Some Rao’s fans worry that Campbell might mess with their favored brand; Campbell has felt compelled to reassure them this won’t happen.)

You don’t need to be an extreme libertarian to wonder whether an arm of the government should be spending time (and our tax dollars) deliberating over what is ultimately a distinction without a difference. I’m all for protecting consumers when there’s a risk that reduced competition might allow monopolistic companies to gouge us on prices or sell us substandard products or services.

But for the 276 million Americans who toss jars of sauce into their grocery carts, there is little risk of either of those things happening with this deal. First, Campbell has no reason to mess with the price since the deal would position it as a force at the bargain and premium ends. And second, arguably more importantly, whatever the price, bottled pasta sauces are all, by definition, substandard.

I’m conscious this might make me sound like a food snob. Not so: I’ll gladly die on the hill where pineapple is a pizza topping. But spaghetti sauce out of a jar sticks in my craw.

For this, I blame Franco Pagetti, my friend and gustatory guide through Italian cuisine. One of the world’s great news photographers, Franco is also an amazing cook, and in the nearly five years we shared a house in Baghdad, he taught me all I know about Italian cooking. Along with his recipes for classic dishes like vitello tonnato and bucatini all’amatriciana, I also acquired his dogmatic intolerance for gastronomic shortcuts, especially if they involve ingredients from a jar.

The one time I brought home a bottle of Bolognese sauce, he threw it, unopened, in the trash. Then, he showed me how to make it from scratch.

This would have been in 2005 or 2006. Since then, I have occasionally cheated by trying out one of the pricier brands on the market. Not once have I gone back for a second jar.

Instead, over time, I’ve experimented with all kinds of sauces from cookbooks, YouTube videos and from recipes shared by friends. For fun, I’ve made the prison pasta sauce from "Goodfellas," and on one occasion I even tried my hand at Clemenza’s meatball sauce from "The Godfather." (In both cases, some imagination is required to fill in the blanks left by the scriptwriters.)

There’s no denying that making a sauce at home takes time. If you’re doing it right, even a basic marinara can take upwards of an hour and a half. (Pro tip: Never try to rush the simmering of the tomatoes.) But once made, you can freeze most homemade sauces for months on end — nearly as long as the FTC has been contemplating the Campbell-Sovos deal.

In weaning yourself from the bottled stuff, you’ll discover a much wider world of sauces than you’d find in the biggest grocery stores. Try it and, when you’ve gotten good at it, send me some of your own recipes. And I’ll also be glad to pass on your thanks to Franco.

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This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Bobby Ghosh is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering culture. Previously, he covered foreign affairs.

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