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Light Ketchup Sent Back To Company

Amy Westfeldt Associated Press

H.J. Heinz Co., which prides itself on selling thick, heavy ketchup that takes forever to come out of the bottle, is in trouble for selling lightweight products in Montana and at least 14 other states.

The nation’s leading ketchup maker isn’t pouring enough of it into its oversized plastic bottles, the federal government said Friday. Fifteen states have returned to Heinz 168,987 bottles, including nearly 81,000 in Philadelphia which were below their advertised weight.

California took 57,000 bottles off store shelves last month after conducting its own survey, while 12,241 bottles were removed in Montana.

The Pittsburgh-based company could face $15,000 in fines in Philadelphia for underselling consumers by about 2,500 pounds of ketchup, Licenses and Inspections Commissioner Robert S. Barnett said.

“They are getting a little less than they paid for” in Heinz’ 28-, 40- and 64-ounce bottles, Barnett said.

Heinz, which has $8 billion in sales of ketchup, tuna fish, Weight Watchers frozen dinners and pet food, offered Friday to replace any unopened, underweight bottles with fresh ones and said it had begun putting more ketchup than normal into the large-sized plastic bottles.

“The average amount of underweight ketchup is approximately half a teaspoon per bottle,” spokeswoman Deb Magness said, while adding: “We’re not tolerating any circumstances that affect the integrity of our products.”

Magness said Heinz had met federal standards when the plastic bottles were filled at manufacturing plants in Fremont, Ohio, and Tracy, Calif. She said moisture loss from the plastic containers may have caused the problem.

A California consumer who returned a lightweight Heinz bottle last month prompted a survey by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which so far has found underweight bottles in 20 states.

The other states that have removed underweight ketchup include: Washington, Massachusetts, Kansas, Iowa, Arkansas, Virginia, Maryland, Oregon, Indiana, North Carolina, West Virginia and Tennessee.