Grownnotmade | Heinz

grown not made

GROWN

NOT MADE

to improve the quality of a food product on the shelf, you must first improve the quality of the produce in the ground. - henry j. heinz
"To improve the quality of a food product on the shelf, you must first improve the quality of the produce in the ground." - Henry J. Heinz
our tasty tomatoes
Our tasty tomatoes

Henry J. Heinz started breeding our tomatoes
in 1934, helping sow the seeds of the unique
varieties we grow today.

Our tomatoes are redder and thicker
than those you will find in supermarkets. That’s
what gives our ketchup the unmistakable Heinz flavour.

grown by specialists
GROWN BY SPECIALISTS

The ketchup that comes out of the bottle is only
as good as the tomatoes that go into it.

Ours are grown in sun-drenched places
like California and Spain, by farmers with
generations of experience. Naturally, they're
all GMO-free.

How can we be sure of the best quality? Because our
Heinz Tomato Masters - the world's leading ketchup
tomato experts - monitor every stage of their growth to
make sure each tomato is as good as it should be.

from seed to bottle
FROM SEED TO BOTTLE

PLANTING

Our tomatoes come from all over the world, but
they're all grown in irrigated fields to deliver just
enough water, without wasting a drop.

HARVESTING

Patience makes perfection. Our tomatoes develop
their sweetness and taste naturally on the vine,
before we pick them at their peak.

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TRANSPORTING FROM THE FIELD

Our fields are close to the tomato paste plants.
That means we can process our tomatoes within
hours of being picked, to lock in their
precious flavour.

WASHING AND SELECTING

We check our tomatoes twice to make sure
we only put the best into our ketchup. Anything
less than perfect goes into livestock feed
and compost.

Next, we flash-cook the tomatoes at 96°C -
the perfect temperature for releasing their
full flavour.

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EXTRACTION

We strain the tomatoes to get all their
thick, juicy pulp, keeping aside the seeds
and skins for feed.

EVAPORATION

Next, we remove the water from the pulp,
to make a tomato paste that's even thicker,
sweeter and tastier than before.

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TRANSPORTING TO KETCHUP FACTORIES

We heat treat our tomato paste to seal in flavour, and
keep it fresher for longer. Then we transport it to our
factories, ready to be made into ketchup.

MAKING AND BOTTLING

Three extra ingredients and our special blend of
spices - that's all it takes to turn our tomato paste
into rich, delicious Heinz ketchup. After bottling,
we make sure our ketchup pours at no more than
0.028mph - guaranteeing its unique texture.

keeping our tomatoes sustainable
KEEPING OUR TOMATOES SUSTAINABLE

Henry J. Heinz was a visionary game-changer. His values still remain true today across everything we do, seeking to make quality food for people, and continuously looking for ways to improve and innovate to meet emerging needs of our consumers. At Heinz we believe in minimising waste to reduce the impact on our environment.

high-yield fields
HIGH-YIELD FIELDS

Our unique tomatoes grow abundantly on the
vine, helping us get more from our fields, save
water and cut down on waste.

waste no waste
WASTE NO WASTE

Anything that doesn't go into our ketchup
gets used in feed, compost or fertiliser,
to help grow the next delicious crop.

spread the good
Spread the Good

Through our development projects, we
share tomato expertise and conservation
ideas with farmers around the world.

from farm to table

FROM FARM

TO TABLE

to do a common thing uncommonly well brings success. - henry j. heinz
"To Do a common thing uncommonly well brings success." - Henry J. Heinz
quality everyone can see
QUALITY EVERYONE CAN SEE

When Henry J. Heinz started selling his products in
1869, other manufacturers used brown bottles to
disguise low-quality ingredients. But Henry had
nothing to hide. That's why he chose the transparent
jars we still use today.

When you look at a jar of deliciously smooth
and creamy Heinz Mayonnaise, you can see the
quality. And you can taste it in your potato
salads and tuna sandwiches.

free-range eggs
FREE-RANGE EGGS

The better your eggs, the better the taste.

We work closely with farms across Europe to
source top-notch eggs from chickens who are free
to roam. Which means we can proudly print the
words "free-range eggs" on Heinz mayo every year.

We ensure our supplier's meet animal welfare standards.
Because well-cared-for chickens lay the tastiest eggs
- and that's exactly what we want for our mayo.

pure plant oils
PURE PLANT OILS

Rapeseed is our most commonly used oil. Most of our rapeseed comes from Europe, but we also source from a few carefully selected farms in other countries,
like Australia.

from farm to table
FROM FARM TO TABLE

Once we've sourced our high quality ingredients,
we're ready to make mayo.

MIXING EGGS, OIL AND WATER.

The trick to making mayo is to blend oil and water
together. Normally, oil floats in water. But in mayonnaise,
the egg yolks hold the mixture together. That's what gives
our mayo its deliciously rich, smooth and thick texture, as
well as its white colour.

make mine mayo
MAKE MINE MAYO

There are just a few extra ingredients that
finish off our mayo.

Vinegar, mustard, and a touch of salt and
sugar give it just the perfect carefully blended
flavour. And starch helps create the gloriously
thick texture you know and love.

We also add an antioxidant called EDTA, that
prolongs the shelf life of our mayo. So you can
enjoy it whenever you like.

And that's it. Naturally, we use no artificial
colours, flavours or thickeners. Because quality
ingredients speak for themselves.

testing
TESTING

How do we know every batch of mayo is perfect?
Simple: we test it.

We test the smell, colour, saltiness, acidity and
thickness, using both special equipment and good.
old-fashioned human senses.

bottling
BOTTLING

Once we're happy, it's off to the filling station to bottle
our mayo. We use a variety of packaging, including our
famous egg-shaped glass jars developed to maximise
spoonability, and squeezy bottles.

And that's it. Our packs are labelled with our famous
Heinz keystone, and then they're off to homes and
restaurants around the world.

less waste, more mayo
LESS WASTE, MORE MAYO

We minimise waste by making our mayo in large batches. And our equipment is ultra-efficient.

Our squeezy bottles are recyclable (just clean them out first ☺). The caps on medium and large sizes can go in the recycling bin too. You can recycle our glass jars, or re-use them at home. They can even make elegant candle holders or flower pots!

beans, glorious beans

BEANS,

GLORIOUS BEANS

to improve the quality of a food product on the shelf, you must first improve the quality of the produce in the ground - henry j. heinz
"TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF A FOOD PRODUCT ON THE SHELF, YOU MUST FIRST IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF THE PRODUCE IN THE GROUND" - HENRY J. HEINZ
the beanz backstory
THE BEANZ BACKSTORY

Henry Heinz sold his first tin of baked beans
to London's Fortnum & Mason department store
in 1901. He believed pantry staples could and
should be made with quality.

More than a century later, that idea still
underpins everything we do at Heinz. We make
beans the same way Henry did - by treating
quality ingredients with care.

three magic ingredients
THREE MAGIC INGREDIENTS

There are three crucial ingredients in a can of Heinz
Beanz: the beans, the tomatoes, and our secret spice
and herb mix. Together, they create the unique Heinz
taste you know and love.

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1. BEANS, GLORIOUS BEANS

Our iconic beans are a type of haricot bean called
the 'Navy' bean. They are naturally nutritious
- high in fibre and protein, and low in fat.

Most of our beans are grown in the US and Canada.
We've been producing baked beans for a long time,
and we have high standards for what qualifies
as the best.

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2. TASTY TOMATOES

Our sauce is made with ripe, plump tomatoes mostly
grown in Spain and Portugal, under the watchful eyes of
farmers - many we have worked with for generations.
Then they're cooked into a richly flavoured paste.

3. SHHH!

Then there's our secret spice and herb mix. We can't say
much about it, for obvious reasons. In fact, only four
people in the world know the recipe!

making our beanz
MAKING OUR BEANZ

Our Beanz are prepared at our factory in Wigan.
Each individual bean is blanched, then carefully checked
for colour with a special laser. (We take our beans
pretty seriously.)

Meanwhile, we make our sauce using our tomato paste
and our secret herbs and spices. The result is a can of
Beanz packed with flavour - and absolutely no artificial
colours, flavours or preservatives.

canning and cooking
CANNING AND COOKING

Fun fact our beans aren't cooked until after they've been canned! First, each can is filled with blanched beans, topped up with sauce and carefully sealed. Then the can itself is cooked for half an hour, with high-temperature steam.

This keeps in all the flavour in the can and gives our beans a long shelf life (without artificial preservatives).

checking and labelling
CHECKING AND LABELLING

We carefully weigh each can and check the seal, then
label them with our famous Heinz keystone. We're quite
fussy about this too - every can is photographed to
make sure the label is on straight.

Why? Because we wouldn't want your beans to arrive
looking anything less than perfect.

keeping our beanz sustainable
KEEPING OUR BEANZ SUSTAINABLE

We want everyone to enjoy our Beanz long into the future. That's why we're working hard to minimise waste and avoid harm to our planet.

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RECYCLABLE CANS

Our tin-coated steel cans are recyclable,
and made from 25% recycled materials. We made
our cans 10% thinner in 2006, which saves tonnes of
steel every year.

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PLASTIC-FREE MULTIPACKS

In March 2020, we teamed up with Tesco to remove
all plastic shrink wraps on multipacks of Heinz Beanz,
Soup and Pasta sold through Tesco stores in the UK.
This will save 175 tonnes of plastic every year.

Read about our plastic-free partnership

ENERGY EFFICIENCY

Our production and transportation equipment is all
highly energy efficient. And our factory is in the
UK, so we can cater to UK bean lovers
with fewer food miles.

beanz meanz learning
BEANZ MEANZ LEARNING

No child should be too hungry to learn. That's why we're proud to partner with Magic Breakfast, a charity that provides healthy breakfasts to around 50,000 vulnerable school children who would otherwise go hungry in the morning. We support them with Heinz No Added Sugar Beanz, naturally high in protein and fibre to help fuel children to a better day.

Find out more about Magic Breakfast (and support them too)

Help #SilenceTheRumble

from field to spoon

FROM FIELD

TO SPOON

to improve the quality of a food product on the shelf, you must first improve the quality of the produce in the ground. - henry j. heinz
"To improve the quality of a food product on the shelf, you must first improve the quality of the produce in the ground." - Henry J. Heinz
soup made the right way
Soup made the right way

Henry Heinz knew the recipe for quality pantry
goods was very simple: use the best ingredients,
and treat them well.

That's exactly what we've always done at Heinz.
It's why our iconic Cream of Tomato Soup has been
a family favourite since 1910.

the best tomatoes, always
The best tomatoes, Always

89% of our Cream of Tomato soup is tomato. So it's no
surprise that we take our tomatoes very seriously.

We use a lot of tomatoes, so we source them from
several farms in countries like Spain and Greece. We've
been working with many of these farms for generations.

Our tomatoes ripen slowly in the sun, and are picked at
peak ripeness, then washed and gently cooked.
The result is a rich tomato paste - we use over 27,000 tonnes of it every year!

a simple recipe
A SIMPLE RECIPE

Our classic tomato soup has about four-and-a-half tomatoes in every can. So half a can is one of your five-a-day.

If each can is 89% tomato, what's the other 11%? Simple:

  • RAPESEED OIL from UK farms.
  • CORN FLOUR to make our soup deliciously thick.
  • LOCAL WATER from Lancashire and the Midlands.
  • SPICE AND HERB EXTRACTS, SUGAR AND SALT, to give our soup its delicious, balanced flavour. Only four people know the exact herb and spice mix!
  • MILK INGREDIENTS AND CREAM. It's Cream of Tomato, after all!

Add it all together, and you have a smooth, naturally delicious soup, with absolutely no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives. And there's only 102kcal in each portion.

how we make our soup
HOW WE MAKE OUR SOUP

Our factory in Wigan is where the magic happens.
There, 850 employees make 1 billion cans of soup, beans
and pasta every year.

Fun fact: each year, UK households buy more cans of
Heinz soup than lightbulbs!

canning and cooking
CANNING AND COOKING

It may seem strange, but we seal our ingredients in
the can before cooking them. It means all the
flavour stays inside, and it helps preserve the soup
without any artificial ingredients.

The sealed cans are cooked with high-temperature
steam for an hour and a half. It's a bit like being inside
a giant pressure cooker.

checking and labeling
CHECKING AND LABELING

We're nearly done - but we go through a few extra steps so
that your soup reaches you in tip-top condition.

Our experts taste-test our soup every two to four hours to
make sure it tastes just right. And we weigh and check the
seal on every can.

The final step is to label each can with our famous Heinz
keystone. It's a symbol of the care and commitment that goes into getting our products just right.

So whenever you see it, you know you're in for a treat.

sustainability at the core
SUSTAINABILITY AT THE CORE

We work hard to minimize the environmental impact
of everything we do - right down to our cans.

Our Wigan factory is in the UK, so we can serve the nation with fewer food miles.

meet oursuper sustainable cans
MEET OUR
SUPER SUSTAINABLE CANS

They're made from 25% recycled materials, and are
recyclable. In 2006, we made our cans 10%
thinner, which saves tonnes of steel
every year.

And our cans are just the start. We're minimizing waste
and energy consumption throughout our production
process, with extra-efficient machinery for sterilizing,
manufacturing, filling and packaging.

keeping our tomatoes sustainable
KEEPING OUR TOMATOES SUSTAINABLE

At Heinz, there's nothing we love more than
tomatoes. That's why we're leading efforts to make
tomato farming more sustainable.

Our Good Agricultural Practices project gives
farmers around the world the resources they need
to switch to more sustainable production methods.

This has helped farmers in Extremadura, Spain
double their crop production over four growing
seasons (two years), by reducing water
loss and soil erosion.

Find out more in our CSR report

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