A lot of ketchup is sold every year. Heinz® alone sells 11 billion single-serve packets and more than 650 million bottles every year. More than 2 million tons of tomatoes are squished by Heinz® each year.
Catch up with some facts:
- Ketchup is classified under Part 155: Canned Vegetables at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
- Ketchup wasn't originally a tomato-based product. Origins can be traced to a soy sauce-like substance in China. The English and Dutch brought it back to Europe, where the initial ketchup — or catsup — recipes included anchovies, ginger and lemon peel, among other ingredients.
- The British didn't add tomatoes — ketchup in Britain traditionally is made from mushrooms.
- The squeeze bottle for ketchup was invented by the same fellow who designed the peel-open packaging for Band-Aids®, Stanley Mason.
- Ketchup isn't just a condiment — copper pots, pans and other items made of copper can be cleaned with ketchup.