Heinz catsup commercial - only made from tomatoes grown from 'their' seeds

[Liberal_in_LA]

Heinz has a new commercial bragging that Heinz catsup (or ketchup) is only made
from tomatoes grown from their seeds. The largest processed tomato company uses only 'HeinzSeed'.
what impact does that have on biodiversity?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28696107/

Heinz, the world's largest processed tomato company uses only tomatoes grown with its so-called HeinzSeed seeds for its ketchup. The HeinzSeed program supplies six billion hybrid tomato seeds a year developed to produce tomatoes that are disease-resistant and to produce a higher yield.

Sets Heinz apart
"I think that is a positive, comforting thing to know that a food she serves frequently is a wholesome thing grown from seeds that our company controls," Geoffrey said. :eyes:

Lynn Dornblaser, a trend expert for research firm Mintel International, said the tomato image plays into modern, more educated consumers' desire for a better understanding of what they're eating, whether for health, safety or just knowledge's sake.

[WeDidIt]

1. Hybridized seedstock has been a staple of agriculture

for scores of years.

[Javaman]

9. Watch, "the future of food", then see if you reply the same way.

this isn't about hybridized seedstock.

[bananas]

18. These aren't genetically engineered

I haven't seen "The Future of Food", but apparently it's about GMO foods, the Heinz seeds are not GMO.

2008 Global Environmental Citizen Award Recipients: Kofi Annan and Alice Waters

<snip>

PITTSBURGH, Penn. (Jan. 28, 2008) — The HeinzSeed program will receive the Corporate Council Award from Harvard Medical School’s Center for Health and the Global Environment during a gala celebration on Sunday, Feb. 3, in New York City. Through this program, H. J. Heinz Company promotes sustainable agriculture in developing nations.

“We are impressed with the HeinzSeed Program’s contribution to sustainable agriculture,” said Eric Chivian, MD, director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment, and a 1985 co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. “The program is proof that the pursuit of profit does not have to be at odds with social responsibility. Rather, when done right, it can produce beneficial results for all of society.”

The goal of HeinzSeed is to help farmers improve their quality of life while reducing the negative environmental impact of over-reliance on chemical pesticides and fertilizers and conserving limited water resources. Created using traditional breeding techniques, Heinz seeds allow farmers around the world to produce high yields of quality tomatoes without genetic modification.

The program has been particularly successful in China, where Heinz has worked with the country’s largest tomato processor and government officials to identify tomato varieties that thrive in Chinese soil and climate. Heinz has taken a similar approach in Egypt and the Ukraine. The company has recently begun a partnership with the United States Agency for International Development for a program in the economically distressed Upper Nile region of Egypt. Heinz is now working with a local NGO to organize Egyptian farmers into cooperatives to achieve economically successful and sustainable production of tomatoes for processing.

“We are honored that the HeinzSeed Program is being recognized by Harvard Medical School’s Center for Health and the Global Environment,” said Bill Johnson, Chairman, President and CEO of the H. J. Heinz Company. “Heinz believes that by sharing our unparalleled seed technology and introducing sustainable farming techniques to developing nations we will make a positive economic and environmental impact.”

<snip>

edit to add: Synopsis of "The Future of Food":

Synopsis

<snip>

THE FUTURE OF FOOD offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade.

From the prairies of Saskatchewan, Canada to the fields of Oaxaca, Mexico, this film gives a voice to farmers whose lives and livelihoods have been negatively impacted by this new technology. The health implications, government policies and push towards globalization are all part of the reason why many people are alarmed by the introduction of genetically altered crops into our food supply.

Shot on location in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, THE FUTURE OF FOOD examines the complex web of market and political forces that are changing what we eat as huge multinational corporations seek to control the world's food system. The film also explores alternatives to large-scale industrial agriculture, placing organic and sustainable agriculture as real solutions to the farm crisis today.

<snip>

The Heinz program seems to be the opposite of what the movie is about.

[NashVegas]

34. Thanks for the Info

[WeDidIt]

23. Yes, it is about hybridized seed stock

The Heinz seeds are NOT Genetically modified. They are hybrids bred for disease resistance. There was no gentic manipulation other than selective breeding.

[prole_for_peace]

2. I saw that commercial

and thought "It's freaking catsup!!" There is so much vinegar and sugar added that I don't think the tomoato makes much difference. And I have never really cared about the "wholesome" ness of my catsup tomatoes

[Liberal_in_LA]

4. The commercial gave the feeling that catsup was SOO wholesome and good. lol

[Art_from_Ark]

32. Well, Ronnie Reagan considered it a vegetable

[derby378]

10. There's no sugar in ketchup anymore

It's all high-fructose corn syrup now, unless you buy organic ketchup like I do.

[SoCalDem]

29. A bottle of catsup lasts about 5 years in this household:)

We rarely ever use it:)

[Uncle Joe]

12. It gives the sugar a nice red color edited for corn syrup. n/t

[closeupready]

39. Disappointingly, not sugar, but HFCS.

Which is a big reason I would like alternatives to Heinz.

[rucky]

3. I wonder if they grow their own corn syrup, too

[Richard D]

8. Corn syrup is from GMO corn n/t

[KansDem]

5. This can't be a good marketing strategy...

...a food she serves frequently is a wholesome thing grown from seeds that our company controls

"Company controlled?" In this day and age? Right in the midst of Wall Street and the banking scandals? And how is that "company-controlled" health insurance working for you?

[Retrograde]

22. it's actually a pretty old practice

both Heinz and Campbells have developed their own tomato cultivars over the last several decades. One of my own favorites, Rutgers, was developed in part by Campbells in the 1930s.

An alternate reading is "these days when big processors mix produce from who knows where into their products at least we know where ours comes from", which is I think what they wanted to get across.

[blm]

6. Good - I'd hate it if they used Hunt's ... Hunt's catsup tastes AWFUL.

.

[OKNancy]

11. I agree. Heinz is the best! I don't care where the seeds come from..LOL

n/t

[karynnj]

19. Same here - heinz is SOOO much better

It might be decades of it being my preference - but all the others are simply second rate.

[Bozita]

25. Hunt's won the taste test on PBS' "America's Test Kitchen"

It aired about a month ago.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

7. And?

[Uncle Joe]

13. Regarding biodiversity, I wonder if any of these

mega corpse food producers ever heard of the Irish Potato Famine?

[onethatcares]

14. damn it, st ronnie said ketsup is a vegetable

so eat your damn vegetables and be happy. Anybody want a ketsup sandwich?:wtf:

[Systematic Chaos]

15. Only if you happen to have some grey poop on you.

[karynnj]

20. And Senator Heinz disputed that.

[sentelle]

16. Is that anything like 'roundup ready' seeds

Like the Monsanto people do? You know, the seeds that are genetically splicedwith mouse DNA so that they can take a spray of full strength 'roundup'? It doesn't mean that they wash the plants regularly, and so, the pesticide can remain on, and in the plant.

A little pesticide with your ketchup perhaps? Thanks, but Heirloom tomatoes are heirloom for a reason. Taste, not yeild.

[quaker bill]

17. and McDonald's fry potatos

are custom grown from a specific potato cultivar to a precise level of maturity then aged in cold storage at specific temperatures for specific times to yeild specific moisture and starch contents.

The more surprising thing is that this is news. Micky D's, BK and an entire myriad of bulk buyers for mass fast and processed foods have exacting specifications for variety, sugar content, color, size and a great deal more for the vast array of produce. This is why they call it agricultural science as opposed to "farming".

It is also why your Big Mac or Whopper taste very much the same regardless of which interchange you pull off for lunch.

It is all quite, quite intentional and rather carefully planned.

Biodiversity is the wrong term. There is generally as close to 0 percent diversity on any 1000 acre tomato field as the farmer can manage and afford to maintain.

Genetic diversity of food crops is a concern and generally comes from the demand to meet varied specifications, or alternately from my backyard heirloom organic vegetable patch. If ya want real food, grow it yourself, it is not all that hard. You can even do it on a modest scale on a balcony.

[elehhhhna]

21. Heinz SHOULD brag that they don't fertilise their plants with hhuman waste.

Yep -- only 1 of 2 companies that refuse to sue "biosolids" aka poop to fertilise their soil. Biosolids are now known to contain many nasty things -- heavy metals, disease, prozac.

Sludge's dirty secret is that it may contain anything that goes down the drain—from Prozac flushed down toilets to motor oil hosed from factory floors. While sludge sold to consumers must be virtually pathogen free, sludge used on farms and industrial sites is permitted to contain low levels of human pathogens. A federal radiation task force recently warned that sludge might be contaminated with radioactive waste; in January, shipments of Canadian sludge with elevated radioactivity levels were turned back at the border. Food companies such as Del Monte and H.J. Heinz won't accept produce grown on sludge-treated land. The Netherlands and Switzerland effectively ban the use of sludge on farmland, and 37 states regulate it more strictly than the EPA.

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2009/05/sludge-happens

Bonus fact -- the biggest poopselling company is owned by Carlyle Group.

[omega minimo]

24. HFS!!!! ".....is a wholesome thing grown from seeds that our company controls"

That's completely insane. :wtf:

[Nikia]

26. It means that their product is more consistent

Tomatoe can be a very variable ingredient. Having them all genetically very close is a good idea to ensure that their product tastes the same and is the same color. People think that something is wrong when ketchup isn't just like their ketchup that they bought last time.

[Agony]

27. Far be it from me to protect large corporations, however

Heinz has more than most corporations to be proud of for their "classic" breeding program. As a grower I have used Heinz varieties for decades. our latest (Heinz 2653) is an Open Pollinated Organic certified variety. We use it. along with the approx. 20 other varieties from other breeders, because it is superior in flavor/maturity/ripening/disease resistance as a paste tomato especially for a northern grower.

I share your concerns about loss of genetic diversity. But Hey! catsup is better if you make it yourself anyway, even if you use a Heinz variety you grew yourself.

Cheerio!
Agony

From Heinz's website...

Superior hybrids are created by classical breeding techniques and intense selection in many environments.

HeinzSeed hybrids are NOT genetically engineered, transgenic or genetically modified organisms (GMO).

To determine broad adaptability to various climates, cultures and soils for successful crop production, field trials of new experimental hybrids are conducted by HeinzSeed in:

Portugal
Spain
Greece
Italy
Chile
Venezuela
New Zealand
Australia
Canada
USA

http://www.heinzseed.com/new/about3.htm

[Liberal_in_LA]

28. Who, in the world, makes homemade catsup? Never heard of such a thing

[handmade34]

30. good stuff!

[NashVegas]

36. Maybe the Same People Who Make Homemade Mayo

You should try it sometime.

[blm]

33. I remember Sen. Heinz being on the forefront of the enviro movement, too. He and Teresa

I expect the company is directed to adhere to strict standards instituted back then, even though the Heinz family is no longer involved in the business. But, it's hard to believe they have no influence since they still own a great deal of stock, and Teresa runs the Heinz Foundation which has been a major supporter of environmental causes for nearly two decades.

[NashVegas]

35. Thanks!

And good growing this summer ...

[bananas]

38. Thanks for that first-hand information. nt

[handmade34]

31. just watched Food Inc.

gives a whole new meaning to all food we eat

[Omaha Steve]

37. Coors has been doing it for decades

Heinz doesn't use Genetically Modified. Nothing new.