NOW we have arrived: "Heinz to launch low-carb Ketchup"
 

USA: Heinz to launch low-carb Ketchup

03 Oct 2003

Source: just-food.com (link)

US food giant H J Heinz is to become the latest company to take advantage of the popularity of the low-carbohydrate Atkins Diet, with the launch of a low-carb version of its popular Ketchup tomato sauce.

Heinz is meeting with analysts today [Friday] to announce the introduction of its One Carb Ketchup, reported the Associated Press.

One Carb Ketchup, which is expected to be available by spring, contains one gram of carbohydrate per tablespoon, 75% less than in the regular version of the sauce.

Heinz says it does not see the popularity of the diet as a trend.

"What attracted our attention is that it's more mainstream," Justin Lambeth, general manager of ketchup for Heinz, was quoted by AP as saying. "Initially, it was just Atkins, but now a lot of folks, whether they're on Atkins or not, are just watching carbohydrates. It's close to a third of the population."

Posted on Thu, Oct. 02, 2003

Protein diet adherents can now anticipate arrival of Heinz' One Carb Ketchup

CHARLES SHEEHAN, Associated Press

link to article

PITTSBURGH - Sweet bliss for adherents of the low-carb diet who are longing for a dressed up hot dog or hamburger - H.J. Heinz is throwing its lid into the protein diet phenomenon with a lower-carb version of its classic ketchup.

H.J. Heinz will meet with analysts Friday to announce the introduction of One Carb Ketchup.

One Carb, expected on store shelves by spring, contains one gram of carbohydrate per tablespoon, a 75 percent reduction compared with the traditional dollop.

Heinz is certainly not the first company that has attempted to satisfy the desires of carb-craving dieters, but it is one of the biggest to venture into the market.

In 1999, 47 lower-carb products were on the market, according to Productscan Online, a company that tracks new packaged products. Last year, there were 339 lower-carb products and more are expected this year, said Tom Vierhile, executive editor of the company database.

Heinz said they don't see the low-carb diet as a trend.

"What attracted our attention is that it's more mainstream," said Justin Lambeth, general manager of ketchup for Heinz. "Initially, it was just Atkins, but now a lot of folks, whether they're on Atkins or not, are just watching carbohydrates. It's close to a third of the population."

Dr. Robert C. Atkins' diet plan advocates meat, eggs and cheese and discourages bread, rice and fruit and other high-carbohydrate diets.

Ketchup traditionally has had a good sum of naturally occurring sugars and corn syrup - a no-no for low-carb diets. Heinz is sweetening the new ketchup with sucralose, which makes up the top-selling sweetener, Splenda.

About 60 percent of all ketchup sold by Heinz is used to snazz up burgers, hot dogs or French fries, so the move to lower-carb version for protein diet followers was a natural, company officials said.

Vierhile said larger companies have been avoiding trends, such as ice beers, after getting burned when consumers looked for the next new thing.

"We've seen a number of companies jump on trends two or three years after they've started and gotten burned," said Vierhile. "That a company like Heinz is getting involved suggests that there may be a little more staying power. The low-carb diet seems to be more satisfying and people are staying more loyal."

That major brewers are now beginning to fight for a larger share in the low-carb beer market could be a signal that a number of large companies are coming around, he said.

Heinz has been rolling out renovations to its traditional ketchup and containers for several years, turning it green for children and going organic for some adults.

As the family dinner becomes more and more segmented with one person following a low-carb diet and another going vegan, Heinz said it has to adapt to the American diet - whatever that may be.

"We have a saying around here that it's our biggest objective to get one bottle of Heinz in the fridge for every member of the family," said Brian Hansberry, group vice president of marketing for Heinz.

On the Net:

H.J. Heinz: http://www.heinz.com/

Productscan Online: http://www.productscan.com.

I wonder what it will taste like... I hope its a similar taste to the 'real thing'

JOY!! :wiggle: :wiggle: :wiggle:

I'm a tightwad, but I splurge on Heinz ketchup - I don't like store brands. It's a monetary splurge and a carb splurge. I hope the low carb version is good! I haven't had ketchup in my fridge since last spring! :D

Mmmm... eggs over easy with ketchup... :yum:

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.

It seems to me Heinz is only replacing sugar with sucralose. Are we going to end up consuming pounds and pounds of the stuff, just like sugar ? What are going to be the long term consequences of that.

Seems to me the solution is to get back to natural wholesome food, not chemical substitutes. I wonder just how many of the benefits that Atkins follower enjoys are due to exactly that. Going back to a more natural way of eating, with fresh meat, fish, and vegetables. I wonder if those benefits will evaporate once low-carb becomes popular like low-fat and the store shelves are stocked with low-carb, nutrionally deficient, crap.

Don't forget the american tendency to oversimplify. For example, once it was said that the French were healthier because they consumed a lot of wine. Or the Asians were healthier because they consume a lot of low-fat carb. Or the Mediterranean are healthier because they consume a lot of olive oil. All of those are over-simplifications.... as is blaming everything on simply carbs. Carbs are a problem yes, but it's part of a complex equation of which it's one of the factors. The over reliance on over-processed chemical-laden, nutrition-poor junk food is another.

As we have seen in the past, the industry does not give a rat's posterior about people's health, only their bottom line. The wave of low-carb food that is coming, is unavoidable as the tide. I have a sneaking suspicion that people will come to rely on them just as they have relied on low-fat in the past. And lost in the glare of the marketing will be the fact that junk food is junk food, wether it is low-fat or low-carb.

/rant off

Well, of course the trend will flow that way! Did you ever have any doubt that it would?

Just tell me what to eat and give me all the products I'm used to so I won't ever have to think about it...

As much as we would like to think that low-carb will teach us better eating habits, we'll be in the minority.

Karen

Karen - well done.

Angeline - By weight, Sucralose is 600 times sweeter than sugar, so even if we replaced sugar with it by 100%, we'd still be eating just a tiny fraction of the sweetner. One could eat Sucralose for 21 months - almost 2 years - before the weight of the Sucralose equaled one day's worth of sugar.

You took me a little too literally. It's irrelevant how many pounds of sucralose we end up eating. Sucralose isn't a natural substance and for that simple fact it remains suspect. People thought for years that transfats were not only safe to consume but preferable to saturated fat. We know better now. Are we going to wake up years from now, after sucralose is practically in everything we eat and discover it's detrimental to good health ?

I'm a type II diabetic - the sugar (a "natural" substance) was killing me NOW. Even if sucralose does kill me later, the key is LATER.

Those are both valid points. However, I've noticed that since low-carbing my desire/craving in general for sweets has greatly decreased. I've seen some other people here mention that as well. So even if I indulge in some sucralose from time to time, it's not exactly "replacing" the sugar in my diet. I think breaking these cravings is a great effect of LC, and as important as the carb counts of what we put in our mouths.

Now that wasn't the case with trans-fats for me. I used to consume those products in place of real butter, etc. with the same frequency as before. Outside of salad, on a low saturated-fat diet those products naturally seemed like better choices, and well, I had to eat SOMETHING right?

Who needs ketchup!
 

...I use sun dried tomatos and extra virgin olive oil plus garlic and puree them!
It's sweet to me and it tastes better!

Yah, we make sun dried tomato pesto also. Very good, and it does not take much volume to be very satisfying. Due to the olive oil, and the concentrated tomato flavor, I think.

Not sure what the carb count is, but since little is needed, and there is no added sweetner, it can't be too great.

Angeline, you took the words right out of my mouth. It bothers me that a WOL that should be based on whole foods is becoming processed, LC junk food. I, for one, would rather not be a human guinea pig for companies who care less about our health. The bottom line is that we know whole foods are natural for our bodies.

Wanda

But isn't it great to have better choices out there? Sure, I love my homemade ketchup, but I don't always have time to make it. I think it's great that folks are *finally* looking at the smoking gun (USDA food pyramid, "low-fat" diets, fast food carbage, etc.) and companies are actually doing something about it, if only to keep themselves more marketable. When consumers vote with their wallets, companies are forced to listen. I see this as progress in the right direction. Most folks just aren't going to take the time to eat 100% whole foods. Why not make those choices less toxic? As for Splenda...I love it and am grateful for it. And I don't think I need a 12 step program for it.

Eat right. Exercise. Die anyway. :rolleyes:

badgoat