French’s using Leamington tomatoes in all its ketchup
From the CBC
Tomatoes grown by Leamington, Ont. farmers will be used in ketchup once again, more than a year after Heinz pulled its operations out of the town. French’s, most famous for its mustard, is producing ketchup and company president Elliott Penner promises to use only tomatoes grown in the self-proclaimed Tomato Capital of Canada and other parts of southwestern Ontario.
“It just makes sense,” Penner said in a phone interview with CBC News. “It’s a simple model that says ‘get the best possible ingredient.’ And guess what? You get great tomatoes in southwest Ontario.”
Penner, who grew up near Cambridge, Ont., said French’s often works with Canadian farmers. The company uses mustard seeds from Saskatchewan in its mustard, for example.
“Canadians make the best mustard seeds available at a fair price,” Penner said. “When we got into the tomato business we thought that was something we could do as well.”
French’s will get its tomato paste from Highbury Canco in Leamington and ship it to Toronto and the U.S. where it will be used in ketchup. A facility in Toronto manufactures the food services ketchup. What ends up for sale on grocery store shelves will be made at a plant in Ohio.