a saucy scandal
Has anyone noticed a change in Wattie’s Tomato sauce lately? Yeah, OK, so I’m continuing my investigations into things that really matter… but… have you?
I have. Last can we opened seemed strangely thin, and the kids managed to splurge through it in just a few days.
Luckily we had an older squeezy container to compare the new can to:
Aha, so all is explained. It’s quite a different formula now: 6% less tomato; 47% less salt; 32% less sugar… and if my sense of taste is correct, more vinegar.
So, what’s the verdict? It’s certainly a good move for Wattie’s – it must be quite a bit cheaper to make. The thinner texture also means that customers will use more. And I bet the price didn’t go down in the slightest.
No posting like this would be complete without the obligatory whiff of fact-free conspiracy-mongering. Is the new flavour closer to, or further from, similar tomato sauces made overseas by Wattie’s owner’s Heinz ? If we can be acclimatised to some dodgy Aussie version of tomato sauce perhaps SOMEDAY SOON THEY’LL TAKE OUR SAUCE AWAY!! OH NOES!!!
But more importantly… do I care? Do you care? Did you notice any change? Will you still buy tomato sauce?
And… does it still taste OK? Probably. But it feels like a little bit of a rip-off now.
Robyn Gallagher
7 December 2008, 23:47 #
I get the feeling that the Wattie’s tomato sauce recipe would have been quietly tweaked many times over the decades as consumers’ tastes change. The lower salt and sugar seems to be a sign of that.
But I absolutely wouldn’t be surprised if Wattie’s tomato sauce slowly turned into Heinz ketchup. That’s more vinegary and less sweet!
Nathan
8 December 2008, 10:03 #
Do you think this should be forwarded to Fair Go?
llew
8 December 2008, 11:43 #
Beanz Meanz Heanz! (Apologies to the Goodies)
I’m a Heinz fan really, although HP sauce is tops.
Alan
8 December 2008, 12:12 #
Robyn: I don’t doubt it. Marmite is another of those things we think has ever been the same, but it’s changed at least three or four times in the last 30 years that I remember noticing. Much less thick and salty these days.
Nathan: Yeah! Fair Go! Assuming there’s actually something nefarious going on.
Llew: we’ll have to revoke your NZ membership. Sorry about that – liking Wattie’s tomato sauce is COMPULSORY.
Giovanni
8 December 2008, 13:12 #
Not liking tomato sauce at all means I’ll probably have to leave these shores, then. I’ll get my coat – along with everything else.
Alan
8 December 2008, 13:46 #
We’ll be sad to see you go, Giovanni. Although “not liking tomato sauce at all” may well be an impediment to reassuming your dormant Italian membership.
I’m thinking we may just have to make an exemption for you on humanitarian grounds. Express our tolerance of different races, creeds, and sauce preferences. That goes for you too, Llew. Come back! Some of my best friends like ketchup!
Martha
8 December 2008, 14:11 #
Watties catering tom sauce has always been much thinner and GROSSER. We’ve turned into a Heinz ketchup family. Like Llew, I prefer HP, but even that is apparently wrong, my ex-boyfs family used to get the right stuff flown over from Scotland.
Giovanni
8 December 2008, 15:52 #
Although “not liking tomato sauce at all” may well be an impediment to reassuming your dormant Italian membership.
No, no, proper tomato sauce I like a lot.
Stephen
8 December 2008, 16:50 #
“liking Wattie’s tomato sauce is COMPULSORY.”
Not since those revolting “You’ll never be a Kiwi” ads. Yeah, like I need some multinational to repackage my own culture and tell me how to belong in my own country. GRRRR.
Giovanni
8 December 2008, 17:18 #
Not since those revolting “You’ll never be a Kiwi” ads.
Heh. Yes, that reminds me that I used to sing “I’ll never be a kiwi” and leave out the last line.
Jasmin
8 December 2008, 18:27 #
Maybe we need a way back when machine for the composition of foods … certainly since peanut butter became a/chinese made and b/full of sugar and oil (ie american style) I started chasing down the NZ/Aussie versions or just not eating it.
And have you noticed you can only get chinese pumpkin seeds? Which means I don’t buy any, but I do wonder where all of ours go!
tinypirate
8 December 2008, 23:34 #
My father used to do some contracting work for Watties and I was thus reliably informed that Watties had the highest tomato content of any tomato sauce anywhere. Sounds like that’s changing in favour of just making as much money as possible.
Alan
9 December 2008, 22:32 #
Giovanni & Stephen: OK, I withdraw that comment about liking Wattie’s sauce being compulsory. To my shame I had forgotten that series of advertisements, but clearly my unconcious had not, curse it!
Jasmin: I think the local pumpkin seeds have all gone to Canada to feed the hogs there. A wayback machine for food! What a good idea! A good start going forward would be photos and transcriptions of the contents labels of foods… I sense a website opportunity…
Tinypirate: I can imagine that would be the case. Although it’s interesting that the various ketchup type products seem to have a higher tomato content again than our “sauces”.
Giovanni
9 December 2008, 22:52 #
A good start going forward would be photos and transcriptions of the contents labels of foods… I sense a website opportunity…
I volunteer my scanner and my copious amounts of free time. It is, indeed, a capital idea.