Ever since Heinz pulled its operations, that had been running for over a century, out of Leamington, Ontario about 18 months ago, Canadian grown tomatoes have no longer been used in the production of Heinz ketchup. This left more than 700 farmers and workers unemployed.
With all the great tomatoes still being harvested in southwest Ontario, French’s, the company most famous for its mustard, stepped up and signed a deal with Highbury Canco who took over the Heinz plant in 2014. French’s has promised to use only tomatoes grown in southwestern Ontario, the self-proclaimed Tomato Capital of Canada. The company has saved multiple tomato farms and jobs in the area. Elliott Penner, French’s president, told CBC News: “It just makes sense. It’s a simple model that says ‘get the best possible ingredient’.” (CBC)
French’s all-Canadian condiment was noted by a resdent of Orillia, Brian Frenandez, whose post on Facebook praising the company’s support of Canadian tomato farmers and their use of natural ingredients went viral. His post has been shared over 130,000 times. A few days later, French’s Ketchup was sold out in many stores across the country.
Fernandez’s post was also able to stir up a rally supporting locally grown food in the area and as well as Canadian grown food, which is often neglected due to the convenience of widely available packaged food. The trouble with package food is that we don’t know (and often don’t care to find out) where it’s coming from. However, more and more people are contemplating where and how their food is being grown and processed; leading many of them to choose locally and Candian grown food that not only assures the safety of their food, but boosts the economy as well.
With the increase in sales, French’s is expecting to triple its order as the bottles are quickly disappearing from the shelves.
Images obtained from:
http://i.cbc.ca/1.3404154.1452799623!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/…
http://www.frenchs.ca/media/36408/Ketchup_Overview.png
http://www.610cktb.com/pics/announcers/larry/larry9/ketchuppost.jpg
Information obtained from:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/french-s-using-leamington-tomatoes…
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/03/01/frenchs-ketchup-canada_n_9358470…
http://www.chathamdailynews.ca/2016/03/01/consumers-seeking-food-made-in…