5 bizarre facts about Heinz ketchup: did you know these?
Say ketchup and you say Heinz. You don’t even have to think about it. The brand has been an integral part of the ketchup landscape for well over 150 years. If you’ve been around for that long, there must be plenty of secrets, mysteries and bizarre facts surrounding your company. These are the 5 most striking facts about Heinz.
Warning: from now on, you may look at your favorite ketchup brand through different eyes as a Heinz fan.
1. The meaning of ’57 varieties’
Have you ever seen the number 57 on a bottle of Heinz ketchup and wondered what it means? Erm… Absolutely nothing. It doesn’t mean that Heinz has 57 types of products in its range, or that the brand was founded in ’57. Nope, it’s a completely randomly chosen number by founder Henry Heinz. Henry saw ’21 varieties of shoes’ on a billboard in New York. He thought it was a strong slogan. So he came up with 57 varieties himself. 5 was his favorite number, and 7 was his wife’s. Nothing more, nothing less.
2. Heinz and the rotten tomato scandal
Heinz has been a hugely popular ketchup brand for years. It may even make the best ketchup, or so Snackspert thinks, at least. But the company has also been guilty of scandals. In 2016, for example, a video surfaced that had been filmed at a Heinz factory in Cairo, Egypt. It showed rotten tomatoes being thrown into a machine. Tomatoes that, the video suggested, would later be processed into ketchup. Heinz did not deny that it was their factory, but did deny that the video told a ”completely misleading and inaccurate” story. ”The edited footage presents an unrealistic picture and ignores the various processing steps, creating a false impression.” (Mashed) You may be an old hand at the (ketchup) game… With a blunder like that, you get the rotten tomatoes thrown at you—figuratively speaking, of course.
3. Heinz came up with canned spaghetti carbonara…
It’s no secret that Heinz sometimes branches out into products other than ketchup. In supermarket aisles, you’ll also find cartons of sieved tomatoes, sandwich spread and canned beans. Not so long ago, there was another remarkable product: canned spaghetti carbonara. It prompted a great many outraged reactions, especially from Italy. People called it a disgrace. According to many enthusiasts, such a delicate dish as pasta carbonara, which requires patience and fresh ingredients, was completely ruined. One look at the endless list of ingredients said enough… Heinz missed the mark there. No, we’ll give canned spaghetti a miss.
4. … And even more bizarre products
Speaking of bizarre products. Heinz clearly enjoys experimenting now and then. Well, making ketchup for 150 years can get a little boring. So they came up with quite a few… unusual products. Even more unusual than canned spaghetti carbonara, yes. How about mayo mousse? Another outright blunder, according to (once again) our snack guru Snackspert. And then there’s ketchup caviar. They launched that when they celebrated their 150th anniversary. But perhaps ketchup ice cream takes the cake. Now, we have to admit that this was the idea of an Irish ice cream parlor that wanted to honor Ed Sheeran—a self-professed Heinz ketchup addict. What would our Henry Heinz think of that?!
5. You can find Heinz everywhere, but not at McDonald’s
Heinz is practically in a league of its own when it comes to tomato ketchup. Yet you won’t find it at the world’s biggest fast-food giant: McDonald’s. That wasn’t always the case. Heinz and McDonald’s even had a very good relationship for 40 years. But all good things come to an end—and so the relationship between Heinz and McDonald’s slowly died. Well, actually, it was McDonald’s that decided to ‘break up’. Due to changes in Heinz management in 2013, McDonald’s decided that after a 40-year ruby anniversary, enough was enough. That’s why you won’t get Heinz ketchup with your French fries.
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