Seeing red. Primo fires up Canadian ketchup war again

Henry Iacobelli, president of Primo, says "it's a very, very good ketchup," in Leamington, Ont., on Wednesday, April 13, 2016. (Rich Garton / CTV Windsor)

Heinz and French’s have been put on notice, there’s another brand entering the Canadian "ketchup war."

Primo Foods Inc., known for its pasta and sauce, has launched tomato ketchup that is being promoted as 100 per cent Canadian.

John Porco, chief operating officer at Primo Foods, says they are doing a test market in the southwestern Ontario region, in the London-Windsor corridor.

"Once we saw the media hype on the Canadian angle, that French's went with, we thought well, the fact of the matter is, that we are really 100 per cent Canadian-owned and operated,” says Porco.

The company says every bottle is packed in Canada with Canadian farm grown tomatoes, harvested in the Leamington area.

"So we're the local guy, we employ local people," says Porco.

He says they really feel that we have the 100 per cent Canadian angle. The timing seemed right, with the recent debate over French’s and Heinz ketchup last month.

“That's why we moved forward, we expedited our strategies and last week basically we finalized our approach, we packed up the product and our guys are out there trying to sell it as we speak.”

Porco says it’s a work in-progress, but they are approaching the major chains to add their product.

“There will be more coming on stream as consumers ask for it,” he says.