Grillwust, noodles, fries: With a dollop of ketchup tastes much better. But how good are Heinz, Werder and Co.? Stiftung Warentest has examined 19 ketchup varieties for the current issue. The result: All products finished well or satisfactorily. However, some manufacturers cheated on the tomato content.
The best rated by the testers are organic ketchups from Alnatura, Bio Zentrale and Denn's organic market. The worst performers were the reduced-sugar Heinz ketchup (grade 3,1) and the Heinz ketchup (grade 3,4). In both, part of the sugar was replaced by steviol glycosides. As a result, the sauce tastes unpleasant to vinegar, according to the testers. Behind both products is also the same recipe, the children's ketchup costs six cents per 100 milliliters more.
Heinz ketchup contains the most sugar
Heinz justifies this with a larger logistics effort due to the smaller packaging size. With 59 cents per milliliter, the children's ketchup from Heinz is significantly more expensive than the test winner of Alnatura (36 cents). Also the standard ketchup from Heinz landed in the test in the back midfield. With 27 grams of sugar per 100 milliliters, the ketchup contained the most sugar.
The rather meager test verdict hits Heinz in a corporate crisis. The US food company suffered significant losses in 2018. Recently, Heinz also stopped deliveries to Edeka because the grocer did not want to pay for the products anymore than before. Because of the dispute over aid for Airbus and Boeing, the EU wants to impose additional tariffs on US ketchup.
Aldi products contain hardly any tomatoes
Other well-known manufacturers such as Werder performed better in the ketchup test. The products were all rated as good. The best rated discount ketchup comes from Lidl. The products of Penny, Aldi Nord and Aldi South, however, were less convincing. The Aldi products advertised a particularly high proportion of tomato paste. The test showed: The information is richly decorated. The tomato content was even below average.
Most money demanded for the children's ketchup. According to the test result, however, the additional costs are not worthwhile. Some contained more expensive agave syrup than sugar. Calorie saving but hardly. Children can safely eat the adult ketchup, the testers judge.
more on the subject
But is ketchup healthy at all? In addition to tomato paste, sugar is one of the most important ingredients. For example, two tablespoons of Heinz ketchup contain 8.1 grams of sugar and about 36 kilocalories. Healthy is different.
Compared to sweetened drinks and greasy food ketchup, however, hardly weighs, argues Stiftung Warentest, because ketchup is usually eaten in small portions.
The testers also checked how the red sauce flows best from glass bottles. The swing-trick, in which the bottle is shaken back and forth, therefore brings little. Even putting a straw into the bottle to the bottom and pulling it out did not produce the desired effect. The most reliable method was to tap the bottom of the bottle with the palm of your hand or hit the edge of the bottle with your hand, keeping the bottle at an angle.