Heinz Tomato Ketchup

Heinz Tomato Ketchup
A bottle of Heinz Tomato Ketchup
Product type Ketchup
Owner Kraft Heinz
Country United States
Introduced 1876
Markets Worldwide
Previous owners H.J. Heinz Company
Tagline "Grown, not made"
Website www.heinzketchup.com

Heinz Tomato Ketchup is a brand of ketchup produced by the H. J. Heinz Company (now Kraft-Heinz).

History

First introduced in 1876, Heinz Tomato Ketchup remains the best selling brand of ketchup.[1] From 1906 it was produced without preservatives.[2] In 1907, Heinz started producing 13 million bottles of ketchup per year, exporting ketchup all over the world, including India, Australia, South America, Japan, Indonesia, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom. Heinz ketchup is often served at restaurants in the United States and Canada, as well as many other countries. As a condiment for many foods, such as french fries, chips, hamburgers and hot dogs, Heinz ketchup uses the slogan, "America's Favorite Ketchup." As of 2012, there are more than 650 million bottles of Heinz Tomato Ketchup being sold every year throughout the world.[3]

In January 2009, the label design was altered, with the illustration of a gherkin pickle that had adorned the label since the 1890s removed and replaced with an illustration of a vine-ripened tomato accompanied by the slogan "Grown not made".[4]

In a recent American Customer Satisfaction Index poll of 10,644 consumers, H.J. Heinz Co. had the highest score of any food or beverage firm, higher than Kraft, Coca-Cola, and Nestlé.[5]

Production

Most of the world's Heinz tomato ketchup is made in the main U.S. plant at Fremont, Ohio, after they closed their plant in Leamington, Ontario in 2014.[6]

Varieties

Heinz Organic Tomato Ketchup

In addition to the standard ketchup variety, Heinz offers two varieties known as "Organic" and "Simply Heinz".[7] Both of these varieties' ingredients contain sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup.[7] Heinz offers several flavor variations: sriracha, jalapeño, and balsamic vinegar. Dietary requirements are addressed with no-salt-added and reduced-sugar varieties.

EZ Squirt colored ketchup

From 2000 to 2006, Heinz produced colored ketchup products called EZ Squirt, which were available in squeezable containers and targeted towards young children.[7] The ketchup launched in green and red-colored varieties, which were later joined by purple, pink, orange, teal, and blue. [8] The Canadian version was labelled E-ZEE Squirt [9], most likely because of the difference in the way that the letter Z is pronounced in the USA and the way it's pronounced in rest of the English-speaking world.

Packaging

Heinz ketchup is packaged in glass and plastic bottles of various sizes, as well as individual-serving condiment packets made of foil or plastic.[7] Larger amounts of ketchup are packaged either in metal cans, rigid plastic jugs, flexible plastic bags and in bag-in-box format. The larger containers can be fitted with pumps or placed into dispensers for bulk service. A bag containing 3 US gallons (11 L) is the largest offering intended for restaurants; an IBC tote containing 260 US gallons (980 L) is sold to food manufacturers.

In 2010, Heinz unveiled a new single serve cup for dipping and squeezing, called the Dip & Squeeze, that will eventually replace the original packets.[10]

The Heinz Keystone Dispenser is a color-coded plastic dispensers, shaped to resemble the keystone part of the "Heinz 57" symbol, that accepts bags of condiments that include the original, low-sodium and Simply Heinz varieties of ketchup, along with several varieties of mustard, mayonnaise, ranch dressing and relish.

Glass bottles

Heinz introduced its octagonal glass bottle for the first time in 1889; the bottle was patented in 1890. While other glass bottle designs have existed, the octagonal glass bottle is still in use and is considered an "iconic" example of package design.[11] In the United States, the glass bottle commonly used by restaurants holds 14 ounces (400 g) of ketchup. A small bottle containing about 2.25 ounces (64 g) of ketchup also exists for hotel room service and other situations where it is desirable to serve individual meals with a more personal or luxurious presentation than might be perceived with the foil or plastic packets associated with fast food dining.

As ketchup has high viscosity and behaves as a pseudoplastic or thixotropic liquid,[12] dispensing from glass bottles can be difficult. Tapping the glass bottle causes the ketchup to become thinner and easier to pour. Heinz suggests, on its website, that the best place to tap the bottle is on the "57" mark. The New York Times has also claimed that the tapping the "57" mark is the best way to cause Heinz ketchup to pour smoothly.[13][14] Shaking the bottle or tapping in another place is also effective, however.

The "57" mark arises from an advertising statement that Heinz made "57 Varieties" of products. When Henry J. Heinz introduced the "57 Varieties" slogan, however, the company already made at least 60 products. The number is simply the combination of numbers Heinz and his wife considered "lucky".[15]

The "upside-down" squeezable plastic bottle, consisting of an opaque red bottle with a wide white cap located at the bottom, was introduced as a food service product in 2002. It allows ketchup to be dispensed more easily than was possible with the glass bottle, and permits the use of more of the ketchup in the bottle, as the contents will settle on top of the dispensing valve. The "upside-down" bottle is intended to be non-refillable. A similar bottle has been introduced in several different sizes at the retail/grocery level, but without the opaque red coloring.

Counterfeiting scheme

In 2012, a criminal scheme that repackaged bulk standard ketchup into bottles with counterfeit "Simply Heinz" labels failed when the transferred ketchup began to ferment and explode.[16]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "FOOD INDUSTRIES IN THE MID-ATLANTIC REGION." The Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Regional Cultures: The Mid-Atlantic Region. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2004. Credo Reference. Web. 1 October 2012.
  2. ↑ "Heinz Ketchup". heinz.com.
  3. ↑ "The First Name in Ketchup". H. J. Heinz Company. 21 October 2010.
  4. ↑ "The Kraft Heinz Company". Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  5. ↑ Higgins, Kevin (January–February 2004). "Competition Can't Ketchup to Heinz". Marketing Management. 13 (1): 22–25.
  6. ↑ "Ketchup giant H.J. Heinz Co. closes Friday in Leamington, Ont". Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Simoncini, Melissa (2011). "Heinz Ketchup: A 135-Year History of Innovation" (PDF). Retrieved 5 Oct 2012.
  8. ↑ http://old.post-gazette.com/businessnews/20020317dickerson4.asp
  9. ↑ http://i.imgur.com/BR7ScR0.jpg
  10. ↑ Pearson, Jake and Jose Martinez (February 4, 2010). "A classic gets revamped! Heinz gives ketchup packet a makeover". NYDailyNews.com. New York.
  11. ↑ Verhaaf, Marcel (2011). The Heinz ketchup bottle. Amsterdam: BIS Publishers. ISBN 978-90-6369-230-8.
  12. ↑ Barry, Patrick L.; Phillips, Tony (10 August 2004). "The Great Ketchup Mystery". First Science.com. Retrieved 2009-06-09.
  13. ↑ Heinz.com. Retrieved April 28, 2011.
  14. ↑ Rawsthorn, Alice (12 April 2009). "An Icon, Despite Itself". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-06-09.
  15. ↑ "Heinz Trivia". heinz.com.
  16. ↑ Goldberg, Dan (18 October 2012). "Counterfeit ketchup caper: Exploding bottles leave major mess in Dover". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved 18 October 2012.

Further reading

  • Gladwell, Malcolm (September 6, 2004). "The Ketchup Conundrum". Taste Technologies (article series). The New Yorker. Retrieved July 16, 2017. Focuses on the reasons Heinz Tomato Ketchup dominates the ketchup market.
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