Similar article in the Vancouver Sun and it mentions me!

Link to article here.

Ketchup joins other low-carb items in U.S. grocery carts
Many complain they can't find products in Canada
Joanne Blain Vancouver Sun; Bloomberg News

Saturday, October 04, 2003
The world's biggest ketchup maker is going low-carb with a condiment aimed at followers of the popular Atkins diet.

Heinz One Carb Ketchup will contain one gram of carbohydrates per tablespoon, 75 per cent less than its traditional ketchup.

H.J. Heinz's move follows moves by other mainstream food and beverage makers to capture a slice of the low-carb market. Coors just announced that it will test-market a reduced-carbohydrate beer, following Anheuser-Busch's success with its low-carb Michelob Ultra.

But the frustration for Canadian devotees of low-carb diets is that many such products haven't made it north of the border.

A Heinz representative could not be reached for comment Friday on whether its One Carb Ketchup will be sold in Canada. Canadian brewer Sleeman has introduced its low-carb Sleeman Clear beer here, but only in Ontario and Quebec.

Low-carb ketchups made by specialty brands like Atkins, Keto and Steeles, which retail for about $7 a bottle, are big sellers at the Low-Carb Centre in North Vancouver.

"I think it's great that Heinz is making a [low-carb] ketchup," said store owner Tammy-Lynn McNabb.

She is skeptical about whether it will be made available in Canada right away. "I'd say probably not," she said, based on her experience in trying to stock low-carb products.

But she thinks more and more major food manufacturers will see the market potential for carbohydrate-reduced products.

"I think you'll see a lot of mainstream condiment companies for sure having low-carb sauces and syrups and dressings," McNabb said. Those products are particularly ripe for low-carb versions because they tend to have a high sugar content, she explained.

Heinz will cut carbohydrates in its One Carb Ketchup by replacing sugar with sucralose, a sugar derivative that does not add carbohydrates or calories, company spokesman Robin Teets said. Its taste is "comparable" to regular ketchup, he said.

The product reflects a rise in "people's interest in obesity, fat and carbs," Dave Moran, president of Heinz's U.S. consumer products division, told investors in a speech broadcast over the Internet.

Low-carbohydrate diets such as the one popularized by the late Dr. Robert Atkins have hurt demand for Heinz's frozen foods. The company also plans to offer low-carbohydrate Smart Ones frozen entrees.

Heinz sells more than $350-million US worth of ketchup in the United States annually, about 60 per cent of the market.

"It's about time Heinz jumped on the bandwagon," said Karen Barnaby, executive chef at Vancouver's Fish House in Stanley Park and a devotee of low-carb eating. "A lot of people are looking for things like this at reasonable prices."

Barnaby has just introduced a low-carb afternoon tea at the restaurant on Oct. 18 and 19. For the past year, she has been holding low-carb dinners about every six weeks, and they sell out regularly.

As well, Barnaby has been teaching low-carb cooking classes and she is now working on a low-carb cookbook.

In the U.S., the Blimpie International sub chain recently introduced a low-carb menu featuring roast beef, turkey and chicken sandwiches. They have less than one-fifth of the carbohydrates found in regular subs.

Wendy's and Hardee's are also test-marketing low-carb burgers served on a bed of lettuce without the bun.