Heinz ordered to drop ‘ketchup’ from labels in Israel

In Israel, where condiments are held to a higher standard, Heinz ketchup is no longer legally ketchup.

Removing it from the category of condiments altogether, Israel’s Health Ministry ruled that the Heinz brand product does not contain enough “tomato solids”.

It will now be sold under the title of “tomato seasoning”, according to Haaretz. “Ketchup” comes from the the Hokkien Chinese word, kê-tsiap, which was a sauce made of fermented fish.

Osem, which now dominates the ketchup market in Israel, appears to want its competitor removed from the shelves.

In January, the Israeli news site Ynet reported that Osem said it had taken Heinz ketchup to a “leading European external laboratory”, and found it “only contains about 21% tomato concentrate”, below the 41 per cent tomato concentrate required by Israeli trading standards.

Before you panic, Heinz in America is still called ketchup, but in Israel it’s a different story.

For the time being, Heinz ketchup will be labelled “tomato seasoning” in Hebrew. The company that distributes Heinz in Israel, Diplomat, says that “Obviously, Osem, who has the monopoly, would be delighted to be the only ones selling this product in Israel”.

“We have to ensure that children become familiar with French recipes so they can hand them down to the following generation”, Christophe Herbert, chairman of the National Association of Directors of Collective Restaurants, said.