Giusi wrote:

"Pete C." ha scritto nel messaggio
...

The OP's Classico is one of the better commercial sauces, with no funky
ingredients. It's a pretty good starting point for enhancements if you
don't want to go "from scratch".

I live in and teach cookery in Italy, ergo I do not buy commercial sauces,
even those made here. I have tried refigerated and a few tinned sauces here
to see what they were like, however.

Generally, the ingredients you listed weren't scary, but they also weren't
like homemade.

They aren't far off from home made.

Why would a homecook start with tomato paste?

To save time, since tomato paste is the end result of cooking and
reducing your sauce for a long time.

Calcium
chloride? Do you put that in your tomato sauce?

Not if I'm starting from scratch, but it's certainly something you might
put in the tomatoes you canned from your garden to use over the winter.
It just helps preserve texture.