"heinz ketchup" news and stories

You may find the coming summer months taste a little...different. Just after the FDA announced its plans to limit salt in processed foods, Heinz has given word that it's tweaking the recipe for its iconic ketchup -- and the new bottles will hit stores this summer. The company, which has not changed this ketchup recipe in 40 years, believes the new formula -- which contains 15 percent less sodium -- will be as popular as the old version, according to the AP. And that's very popular indeed -- the brand corners about 60 percent of the ketchup market. But some customers are expressing doubt.

"Leave the ketchup alone," one Brooklynite said to the New YorkPost. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Another, an octogenarian who's been eating Heinz ketchup for most of his life, lamented in the same article: "I haven't died yet. It's really hard for me to eat without salt. I think it's infringing on our rights!"

Marketing strategists are surely thinking back to the days of New Coke, a massive PR failure, but the Heinz ketchup reformulation has some important differences. For one thing, the catalyst for the change would appear not to be PR but rather public health. Spokeswoman Jessica Jackson told the Post that the company was keeping "the needs of our consumers and our commitment to health and wellness" in mind. The other major difference is the lack of a glitzy ad campaign. Bottles containing the new recipe will have no hint on the label; customers will have to look at the nutritional data in order to tell the difference. (Or, maybe, just taste it.)

Anyone who's ever tried to eat French fries in the car or has squeezed packet after messy packet of ketchup onto a burger knows that those little condiment packages can be annoying (and sometimes impossible to open at all).

Heinz feels our pain. For the first time in decades, the ketchup company is revamping the way it packages ketchup on-the-go, the Associated Press reported.

Heinz has created the Dip & Squeeze package, a single-serving ketchup packet that has a cup for dipping and an end that can be torn off, making it easier to both dip and squeeze with less mess.

"The packet has long been the bane of our consumers," David Ciesinski, vice president of Heinz Ketchup, told the AP. "The biggest complaint is there is no way to dip and eat it on the go."

The packet also holds three times as much ketchup as the traditional Heinz ketchup packet.

Wandering the aisles of my local Acme (part of the Albertsons chain for you west coast dwellers), I stumbled across a clever packing idea. The folks at Heinz have bundled three bottles of condiments into a single unit*, making it easy to grab everything you need for a picnic or cookout. I used to organize monthly potlucks for a large collection of friends, and during the summers we'd make a point of meeting at a local park for frisbee and grilling. I would have happily grabbed one of these packs in those days, as some how we always found ourselves with relish, but no ketchup. So if you've got a big food event coming up and have been charged with bringing the condiments, keep your eyes peeled for one of these packs.

*Yes, I realize that there are four bottles in the picture above. I couldn't find an image of the exact unit I saw at Acme and but was able to find this one over at the Sam's Club website. I guess wholesale food clubs get an extra bottle of ketchup.