Israeli standards require any product to include at least 28% tomato concentrate in order to be called ketchup, Osem says.
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Removing it from the category of condiments altogether, Israel’s Health Ministry ruled that the Heinz brand product does not contain enough “tomato solids”.
Heinz ketchup is now defined as mere “tomato seasoning”.
The ruling came as a result of lobbying by rival manufacturer Osem. It will be relegated to the title “tomato seasoning”, Ynet reported.
However, Haaretz reports that Heinz is appealing to change the Health Ministry’s standards to qualify as ketchup again.
Diplomat is filing a petition to have the standard for ketchup in Israel brought in line with the rest of the world, from ten percent tomato solids to just six.
A spokesman for Diplomat, the Israeli distributor for Heinz, earlier defended the ketchup against Osem’s claims.
“The word ketchup is indicated in English on the front of the bottle… the back label of our ketchup sold in Israel reflects current local requirements for ingredient labelling and the Hebrew name for the product”.
Osem controls about two-thirds of the market for Israeli ketchup, leaving Heinz a distance second in terms of sales.
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“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.
