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Buy French's ketchup instead of Heinz

mark_alfred
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Joined: Jan 3 2004

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mark_alfred
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Joined: Jan 3 2004

Seems Heinz just up and left, screwing over the workers and farmers in Leamington Ontario.  But French's set up shop and buy's tomatoes from there for their ketchup.  So, buy French's and not Heinz.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/craigsilverman/of-ketchup-and-canadian-economic-...


bagkitty
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Joined: Aug 27 2008

Thanks for bringing this up again m_a, made the switch when the story first came out. Was hesitant - memories of the horrible tasting house brands and off labels I have tried in the past (and unlike your basic yellow prepared mustard) had me suspicious, but the recipes are so very close that there is no real period of adjustment to this condiment.


lagatta
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Joined: Apr 17 2002

Good to know that. I don't use ketchup, but this is important if I buy it for a party at my housing co-op, an association I work for or simply to tell friends and family (many are pissed off about the closing). French's also sell some decent hot mustards now, though I suspect they are probably made in the US (from Canadian seeds).

 


quizzical
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Joined: Dec 8 2011

i've asked the grocery store here to bring French's ketchup in. it should be in today in the gocery shippment. pretty excited about it too.


iyraste1313
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Joined: Jan 18 2014

So, buy French's and not Heinz.

No! Our first order of business is to boycott the public corporations under the control of the financiers and their stock markets and their ultimate demands for the bottom line!
This is essential...we must build alternatives....build our local markets and cooperatives, set up our cottage industries to process our local produce...support community agricultural systems!

And above all build a movement oriented political organization in this support...as you can be guaranteed they will do everything possible to ban everything we try...as they control the governments not we! 


quizzical
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Joined: Dec 8 2011

yes!!!! i don't want my ketchup made and imported from the USA and saving farms in Ontario is ok with me too.

you go right ahead and develop your local markets and cooperatives as every community  is or should be doing. i know we are.

we can do both you know it's not one or the other.

 


mark_alfred
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Joined: Jan 3 2004

Absolutely.  I mean sure, actual change is brought about by advocating for better laws and better government, rather than consumer boycotts.  But, if a company does screw over some workers and another company is not, then seems a good idea to favour the company that isn't screwing people around.  So French's ketchup for me in the future.


iyraste1313
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Joined: Jan 18 2014

we can do both you know it's not one or the other....

...my reason for saying no is that a movement must be built in Canada that is prepared to boycott the stock market and bankster financed corporations, whereby its members would be looking to build alternative systems...better laws and better govrnment just won´t cut it...first the bureaucrats and their so called regulators are in the pockets of the oligarchs, the governments are bought and paid for by the same!

It is illogical to assume they will go against their own paymasters...of course if you really can´t believe that?

...we can only agree to disagree...I can write books on how the system is totally corrupted, by looking at the evidence...but I´m satisfied just by mst own endless experience with the bureaucrats, the corporate media and their paid off ?


alan smithee
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Joined: Jan 7 2010

I'm thankful I'm the minority that dislikes ketchup and mustard, so it seems none of my money is going to them either which way Laughing


lagatta
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Joined: Apr 17 2002

Do you like any condiments? I like mustard, but only hot (strong) kinds such as Colemans and other hot English, Dijon, some hot German brands. Of course not all of the above are imports now. Detest neon yellow "ballpark" mustard. Don't like ketchup at all but do like flavourful (not deathly-hot) hot sauces.


alan smithee
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Joined: Jan 7 2010

I like hot sauce. I hate virtually every condiment safe mayo occasionally. There's an excellent Taco Stand near me...Chorizo with the 'fire' sauce...Very tasty.


Mr. Magoo
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Joined: Dec 13 2002

When I was in high school I had a friend who wouldn't eat any condiment at all.

We worked on a "chip wagon" together one summer, and it was funny watching him eat a hotdog or a hamburger with absolutely nothing on it.  And when the condiment dispensers needed refilling I had to do it because just the sight of them -- particularly the Willie's Zucchini Relish -- would make him start gagging.


Pondering
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Joined: Jun 14 2013

lagatta wrote:

Do you like any condiments? I like mustard, but only hot (strong) kinds such as Colemans and other hot English, Dijon, some hot German brands. Of course not all of the above are imports now. Detest neon yellow "ballpark" mustard. Don't like ketchup at all but do like flavourful (not deathly-hot) hot sauces.

My italian brother in law calls it children's mustard. 

I will definitely look for French's Ketchup and encourage everyone I know to do the same. 


Badriya
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Joined: Aug 1 2014

I still buy Heinz tomato paste, because it is union made.  Does anyone know if it is made in Canada.  


Badriya
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Joined: Aug 1 2014

I still buy Heinz tomato paste, because it is union made.  Does anyone know if it is made in Canada.  


iyraste1313
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Joined: Jan 18 2014

yes support Heinz! And its Unions, which no doubt is giving a considerable support to the republican and democratic fascists to conduct

more imperialist wars bringing the planet to the brink of extinction..this is not dramatic...it is reality!

And the bankers supporting Heinz and their scam ripoffs destroying the world economic system, extracting whatever real assets they can transferring them into investments in paper assets, making life unbearable for people trying to live, to eat, to have shelter!
Can´t you see it? It is a chain of command destroying humanity and the planet, like some monstrous machine totally out of human control!


Mr. Magoo
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Joined: Dec 13 2002

So basically, Heinz ketchup --> unions --> fascism --> (more stuff) --> world destruction.

Anyone ever buy banana ketchup?  No, seriously, it exists.  It varies, brand to brand, but if you get the right one it tastes just like tomato ketchup (and it's also the correct colour of red) but it's made from bananas.  Seek it out next time you're in an Asian grocery.


lagatta
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Joined: Apr 17 2002

Yes, I've seen it but not bought it, because I feared that it would be overly sweet.

Iyraste, you have greatly exceeded your exclamation point quota. Nothing to say about the anti-trade-union stuff.


mark_alfred
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Joined: Jan 3 2004

Heinz is union made?  Hmm, that presents a quandary if French's isn't. 

When I bought crappy cold cereals I would always buy Kellogg's because they were both union made and had the union label on their products.  I recently bought a Kellogg's product again and noted it did not have the union made label on it.  My discovery of this only added to my pre-coffee dread of everything in the morning.  Is Kellogg's no longer union made?  It's not a big deal, since I generally eat oatmeal and raisins.  But, like my oncoming old age and seeing cherished things disappear, it's kinda bothering me.


bagkitty
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Joined: Aug 27 2008

Mr. Magoo wrote:

When I was in high school I had a friend who wouldn't eat any condiment at all.

We worked on a "chip wagon" together one summer, and it was funny watching him eat a hotdog or a hamburger with absolutely nothing on it.  And when the condiment dispensers needed refilling I had to do it because just the sight of them -- particularly the Willie's Zucchini Relish -- would make him start gagging.

Yeah, nothing can turn you off certain types of food like having worked in the food industry that prepares them. Worked as a cook in a "legion-type" club (officers only, mind you) and had to prepare fresh coleslaw in 5 gallon batches. Even with the latex gloves on working the mayo into the shredded cabbage was somehow disgusting. And don't get me started on having to prepare liver and onions (liver arrived frozen, was cut into serving pieces on a band saw and then placed in trays in a walk in cooler to thaw a bit before cooking - reaching into the extremely cold tray of raw liver and feeling the texture... brrrrrr, still sends shivers down my spine... and since these were WWII veterans, liver and onions was extremely popular.... blech).


quizzical
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Joined: Dec 8 2011

Badriya wrote:
I still buy Heinz tomato paste, because it is union made.  Does anyone know if it is made in Canada.  

i think the articles on this, linked above, said all purchases of tomatoes from Canadian markets farms stopped and Heinz is only purchasing their tomatoes and manufacturing their pastes in the US now. their ketchup is made from their tomatoe pastes from what the articles said.

what i find funny about this is Americans would come to Victoria, when Heinz ketchup was on sale, to buy our 'made in Canada' product. they said theirs tastes different because they use some type of  syrup to make it.

 


quizzical
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Joined: Dec 8 2011

mark_alfred wrote:
Heinz is union made?  Hmm, that presents a quandary if French's isn't. 

went and looked at my bottle of Heinz, it's Kosher and non-union made. there's no union made symbol on it but there's a kosher one.

about the mustard taste off shoot discussion. i like all mustards. even yellow. if i want to go for the junk food hamburger taste you can't get it with out using it.

if i'm going for a gouda veggie sandwich then i have to have a hot honey dijon course ground. love all hot sauces and make my own chili spice mix from my and friends home grown peppers. a long nose stinging nose process for some blends.


MegB
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Joined: Nov 28 2001

It's my understanding that other Heinz products, including their tomato paste, are still being made in Canada by Canadian workers. Not sure how many are union shops.


bekayne
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Joined: Jan 23 2006

What about catsup?


Mr. Magoo
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Joined: Dec 13 2002

Don't complicate things.


Mr. Magoo
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Joined: Dec 13 2002

Not sure why this didn't occur to me earlier.

When I lived in Dresden, ON -- I'm thinking 1982-1986 -- the local Aylmer-DelMonte processing plant made a range of tomato products with locally grown tomatoes.  "The Cannery", as it was known, had a full-time, year-round staff of "steady-eddies" who were unionized, if I'm not mistaken, but during "runs" (primarily tomatoes, and beets) they hired non-permanent, non-unionized employees, as well as foreign workers (pretty much all from Jamaica).

I can't remember whether their ketchup was any good or not, but I do recally quite vividly that on any given July evening, the condensers (that turned tomato slurry into paste or ketchup or whatever) made the entire town smell like your Mom was heating up a can of tomato soup for lunch.  And rather than turning one off tomato soup forever, it made one wonder whether they might have a can of tomato soup in the back of the cupboard to heat and eat -- it smelled THAT good.  Go figure.

Conversely, though, on the margins of town, there were a few fields, owned by the Cannery, and used for production waste disposal.  Basically, the seeds and skins were ground up, mixed with water, and sprayed onto the fields by what can only be described as giant oscillating lawn sprinklers.  When it all fermented/decomposed it smelled like the outhouse on a tuna boat.


quizzical
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Joined: Dec 8 2011

Quote:
.....He thought he’d do some Internet research before picking which one to buy, but the first article that came up was not what he’d expected to see: Heinz pulling out of Leamington; 740 jobs gone; plant to close.

“I didn’t even know there was a town called Leamington,” he said. He was shocked such a big company could stop using Canadian ingredients and he hadn’t heard about it.......

.....Some, from Leamington and St. Mary’s, tell intimate stories of loss and struggle after the closure of their Heinz plants. One woman made Fernandez’s wife Ann-Marie cry with her story about how a contract with Highbury Canco saved her family’s tomato farm.

 


johnpauljones
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Joined: Nov 27 2004

I went to the local grocery store to buy french's ketchup they were sold out. I asked the manager when the next shipment was expected so I could make sure to get some. Here is the funny thing he said that they were having problems getting more. I go to a smaller store not one of the bit national chains. 

 

If i was a cynic I would say that the entire anti Heinz pro French's boycott was thought up by French's to sell out their merchandise....good thing I am not a cynic :-)

 


Pondering
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Joined: Jun 14 2013

johnpauljones wrote:

I went to the local grocery store to buy french's ketchup they were sold out. I asked the manager when the next shipment was expected so I could make sure to get some. Here is the funny thing he said that they were having problems getting more. I go to a smaller store not one of the bit national chains. 

If i was a cynic I would say that the entire anti Heinz pro French's boycott was thought up by French's to sell out their merchandise....good thing I am not a cynic :-)

I wouldn't care if it was. It is true that Hienz pulled out and that French's is buying from Ontario processors. That's all I need to know. Now they have to up production to meet demand. That's a good thing.


Mr. Magoo
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Joined: Dec 13 2002

Quote:
Now they have to up production to meet demand. That's a good thing.

The only problem is that their tomato run won't be on until late July/early August.  If they or their distributors run out of stock between now and then, there's not much they can do.


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