The most popular tomato dip in the world, the one that Americans cannot do without in restaurants and in their home kitchens - has disappeared from the shelves • The causes and solutions to the problem - inside
Ketchup bottles on the shelves.
Do not get used to it
Photo:
Reuters
The United States is dealing with a (kind of) particularly troublesome epidemic these days, one that is pressing junk food addicts no less than pressing the corona.
The past year, with its many implications in the field of restaurants and the increase in demand for fast food in deliveries, has led to a severe shortage of ketchup.
A shortage that has reached the level of a black market, brokers raising prices and, of course, a large rise in prices.
The main shortage is due to the fact that many restaurants became delivery branches during the Corona period, so a lot of small ketchup bags were distributed and the demand for them is growing.
At the same time, the Center for Disease Control, the CDC, has ordered a ban on the use of large bottles of ketchup in restaurants, due to the fear that the virus will spread like this between different users.
So there was actually a dependency on the small, disposable bags of ketchup, which just ran out.
As befits a nation that has been sanctifying junk food for many decades, ketchup is an integral part of American cuisine, both in restaurants and in private homes.
Hundreds of tons of tomato dip are sold to homes and restaurants each year, while in the past year, according to US media reports, consumption has risen by 15%.
Heinz, the undisputed rulers of ketchup in the United States, admit that they were not ready for such a drastic jump in demand. They will make a massive recruitment of workers for the existing production lines and at the same time, in order to spend less ketchup, they are working on a dedicated facility for restaurants that will stop the use of the small bags.
