Not just into pasta sauce: Primo joins Canada’s ketchup war

The ketchup war is heating up with Primo joining the fray with its all-Canadian condiment.

Primo, known primarily for their pasta sauces, is a Canadian brand based in Ruthven, Ont., just six kilometres west of tomato capital Leamington.

Parent company Sun-Brite Foods Inc. is now the largest tomato buyer in Canada after ketchup giant Heinz moved out of Leamington and took their business to the U.S.

READ MORE: Loblaws to re-stock French’s ketchup, made with Canadian tomatoes

Primo’s ketchup is being marketed as being “truly Canadian.” The marketing materials say it’s made with 100 per cent Canadian tomatoes, uses Canadian labour and is processed and packaged in Canada.

Its competitor, French’s, also only uses Canadian-grown tomatoes but processes its ketchup in Ohio then ships it to Canadian grocery stores. Last month French’s announced it planned to look into Canadian processing options.

READ MORE: Ketchup politics: Ontario legislature asked to serve French’s, not Heinz

In an interview with the Windsor Star, Sun-Brite’s president, Henry Iacobelli, said it was the right time for the company to enter the ketchup field.

“We pack every kind of tomato in every which way except ketchup so when Heinz moved out of the town of Leamington we thought that might have been a good opportunity to get into that market,” he said.

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Another factor was the social media fervour surrounding Heinz’s exit to the States and Loblaws’ short-lived decision to remove French’s from its shelves.

“Once we saw the firestorm and the media hype on Canadian products just over a month ago we decided, you know what, let’s move forward. So we expedited our plans,” said John Porco, the chief operating officer for Primo Foods and Unico Inc.

According to media reports, Primo’s ketchup will be rolled out to about two dozen independent stores in southwestern Ontario by the end of this week.