Heinz to be no longer considered as ketchup in Israel

The Israeli Ministry of Health has ordered Heinz to remove the word ‘ketchup’ from the labelling of its tomato ketchup product due to the low level of tomato solids in the product.

According to a recent ruling, the product will now be relegated to the title ‘tomato seasoning’ in Israel. The ruling, however, does not affect English labelling.

The ruling was the result of a campaign run by rival condiment maker Osem, which claimed that Heinz’s ketchup contained only 21% tomato concentrate instead of 61% as it claims in its advertisements, reported UPI.

Osem is one of the leading ketchup producers in the country.

According to the requirements by the health ministry, a product is required to contain at least 41% concentrates to be qualified as ketchup.

Osem Trade CEO Nizan Goldberg had sent a letter to retailers in January saying: "We wish to bring it to your attention that we recently discovered that the product marketed as Heinz 700g ketchup only contains about 21% tomato concentrate and not the 61% tomato concentrate as advertised on the product. The product has been tested in a leading European external laboratory, which produced these findings.

"The incorrect indication of tomato concentrate in the products severely misleads the Israeli consumer public and is a violation of the provisions of the law to protect consumers."

However, Heinz’s Israeli distributor Diplomat had dismissed the allegations saying that the claims had no substance.

The company is currently filing its own petition to modify the local definition of ketchup, reported Haaretz.

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Image: Osem claimed in its campaign that Heinz contained only 21% tomato concentrate instead of 61% as it claims. Photo: courtesy of SunOfErat via Wikipedia.