Heinz Tomato Ketchup

Heinz Tomato Ketchup
Product type Ketchup
Owner Kraft Heinz
Country U.S.
Introduced 1876
Markets Worldwide
Previous owners H.J. Heinz Company
Tagline "Grown not made"
Website www.heinz.com/our-food/products/ketchup.aspx

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 one of the best selling brands 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]

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.[5]

Besides glass bottles, Heinz ketchup comes in squeezable plastic containers and single-serving packets.[6] In 2000, Heinz introduced colored ketchup products called EZ Squirt, which were targeted towards young children.[6] The product was available in a squeezable container and was eventually discontinued in 2006. Green, purple, pink, orange, teal, and blue colored ketchups were also available for a limited time. In 2010, Heinz unveiled a new single serve cup for dipping and squeezing, called the Dip & Squeeze, that will eventually replace the original packets.[7]

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.[8]

Varieties

Heinz Organic Tomato Ketchup

In addition to the standard ketchup variety, Heinz offers two varieties known as "Organic" and "Simply Heinz".[6] Both of these varieties' ingredients contain sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup.[6] 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.[9]

Heinz offers several flavor variations: sriracha, jalapeño, and balsamic vinegar. Dietary requirements are addressed with no-salt-added and reduced-sugar varieties.

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. 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.

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.[10] 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,[11] 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.[12][13] 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".[14]

The practice of combining the contents of partly used glass bottles of ketchup is known as marrying the ketchup. Although discouraged by Heinz, the practice continues in some restaurants that use the glass bottle. Since it is impractical to use the entire contents of a bottle, and since diners may prefer to have a bottle of ketchup that appears full, restaurants are left with multiple partly-empty bottles at the end of each day. Restaurant staff, sometimes with the aid of purpose-built devices, combine the contents of several bottles into a single bottle, creating the appearance of a full bottle of ketchup. A new bottle of ketchup will open with a popping sound, while "married" ketchup will not.[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.

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. 01 October 2012.
  2. ↑ "Heinz Ketchup". heinz.com.
  3. ↑ "The First Name in Ketchup". H. J. Heinz Company. 21 October 2010.
  4. ↑ Heinz® Ketchup Retires the Pickle From Its Label After 110 Years: Vine-Ripened Tomato Takes "Center Stage" on Tables Across the U.S.
  5. ↑ http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/h-j-heinz-co-leamington-1909-2014-1.2686019
  6. 1 2 3 4 Simoncini, Melissa (2011). "Heinz Ketchup: A 135-Year History of Innovation" (PDF). Retrieved 5 Oct 2012.
  7. ↑ Pearson, Jake and Jose Martinez (February 4, 2010). "A classic gets revamped! Heinz gives ketchup packet a makeover". NYDailyNews.com. New York.
  8. ↑ Higgins, Kevin (January–February 2004). "Competition Can't Ketchup to Heinz". Marketing Management. 13 (1): 22–25.
  9. ↑ Goldberg, Dan (18 October 2012). "Counterfeit ketchup caper: Exploding bottles leave major mess in Dover". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
  10. ↑ Verhaaf, Marcel (2011). The Heinz ketchup bottle. Amsterdam: BIS Publishers. ISBN 978-90-6369-230-8.
  11. ↑ Barry, Patrick L.; Phillips, Tony (10 August 2004). "The Great Ketchup Mystery". First Science.com. Retrieved 2009-06-09.
  12. ↑ Heinz.com. Retrieved April 28, 2011.
  13. ↑ Rawsthorn, Alice (12 April 2009). "An Icon, Despite Itself". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-06-09.
  14. ↑ "Heinz Trivia". heinz.com.
  15. ↑ Rawes, Erika. "4 Gross Things Restaurants Do to Save Money". Culture Cheatsheet. Retrieved 9 September 2016.

External links

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