A debate over the Canadian identity of Heinz ketchup has developed in recent weeks after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in a commentary on U.S.-Canada trade tensions, urged his countrymen to support domestic products, despite Heinz’s repeated claims that “Heinz ketchup is made in Canada, by Canadians, from Canadian tomatoes.”
The company said that by 2024, about 10% of Heinz ketchup sold in Canada came from the United States. However, the majority is bottled in Mount Royal, Quebec, using tomatoes sourced from Leamington, Ontario. These Canadian-made bottles are labeled “Prepared in Canada,” in accordance with Canadian Food Inspection Agency guidelines. Despite this clarification, Canadian consumers have reported purchasing bottles of Heinz ketchup labelled as made in the United States.
Kraft Heinz has clarified that the presence of these products on the Canadian market is a practical response to an unexpected increase in local demand that cannot be met by the Canadian plant in Mont-Royal, or illustrates the manufacture of specialty ketchups produced exclusively in the United States.
This episode illustrates the difficulties in the relationship between Heinz and the Canadian market since 2014, when the company sold its tomato processing plant in Leamington, Ontario, allowing the French’s brand to capitalize on buyers’ trust in its Canadian-sourced products. After a significant decline in sales, Heinz resumed production of Canadian tomatoes in 2020 and “completed a full crop in 2022.” With the renewal and expansion of the partnership with Highbury Canco, 100,000 tonnes of Canadian tomatoes are processed for Heinz each year (see also related articles below), destined for the production of ketchup, tomato sauce and tomato juice.
According to customs statistics collected by Trade Data Monitor, exports to Canada of tomato sauces and ketchups produced in the United States amounted to just over 194,000 tonnes last year (December 2023-November 2024), up 24% compared to the average of the three previous equivalent periods; over the same periods, Canadian exports to the United States mobilized just under 17,000 tonnes of finished products, down about a third compared to the average of the previous three years.
The US trade surplus in tomato sauces and ketchup with Canada was around $170 million last year, up 34% from the previous three years.
Sources: cbc.ca, weeklyvoice.com, TDM
