Heinz Ketchup isn’t ketchup, Israel rules

By Caroline SCOTT-THOMAS

- Last updated on GMT

Heinz Ketchup isn’t ketchup, Israel rules

Related tags Ketchup H. j. heinz company

Israel’s Health Ministry has ruled that Heinz Ketchup can no longer be called ketchup in Israel after local brand Osem argued it doesn’t contain enough tomato paste, according to Israeli news service Ynet.

Ketchup must contain at least 41% tomato paste to qualify as ‘ketchup’ according to Israeli trading standards. The Heinz product claims on its label to contain 61% tomato paste, but Osem Trade said it had commissioned independent testing that showed it only contained 21% tomato paste.

In Hebrew, Heinz will have to call its sauce ‘tomato seasoning’. The ruling does not affect the brand’s English language labelling.

Ynet News said that Osem’s ketchup accounted for about two-thirds of the Israeli ketchup market, with the Heinz brand a distant second.

Meanwhile, Heinz’s local importer, Diplomat, has petitioned to have the definition of ketchup changed to apply to products containing at least 6% tomato solids, versus the current 10% - a move backed by Israel’s Health Ministry.

Related news

Related products

show more

 Four actionable steps to reduce allergen recalls

Four actionable steps to reduce allergen recalls

Content provided by FoodChain ID | 10-Oct-2023 | White Paper

Failing to mitigate allergen risks has serious consequences - not just for consumer safety, poor allergen procedures can also cause financial losses and...

Is your brand reputation at risk?

Is your brand reputation at risk?

Content provided by FoodChain ID | 21-Sep-2023 | White Paper

FoodChain ID has developed a new white paper, “Current Food Supply Chain Threats - Is Your Company's Brand Reputation at Risk?” examining recent regulatory...

Related suppliers

4 comments

Show more

The real issue...

Posted by Sion Morgan,

Surely the real issue isn't that the testing shows it can't match the name to the product definition but is that Heinz are claiming almost three times as much tomato paste is present on the label?

Report abuse

Real Tomatoe Sauce

Posted by Nick Tselentis,

In South Africa - Tomato Sauce - is the premium claim. Heinz can't get to a 100% input or 37 tomatoes in 750 ml bottle.
Osem in this scale is probably third best to All Gold and Aljoy (SA Brand)
Heinz a distant 4th.
Eat your heart out Heinz, the rest of the world will learn about this in due course

Report abuse

IN USA THE PROMOTE THE OWEN INDUSTRIES FORM COMPETITION BY TAX+OTHER LOCAL REGULATION

Posted by UZI LEDERMAN,

YOU RIGHT,BUT ISRAEL ARE NOT DIFFER FORM OTHER COUNTRIES(USA+EUROPE)IN USA THE PROMOTE THE OWEN INDUSTRIES FORM COMPETITION BY TAX+LOCAL+NATIONAL REGULATION.SO JUST OPEN YOUR EYES.

Report abuse

Follow us

Products

View more

Webinars