Heinz HP sauce goes dutch.
One of Britain’s most iconic sauce brands is likely to become another victim of a point of origin fraud with company owners Heinz announcing the brand is going to be made by the Dutch.
HP brown sauce (yes, we even have it in Australia) famously features the Houses of Parliament on its label and the announcement last month that it US parent Heinz wants to close its plant in Birmingham and move production to Holland has sent shockwaves through Britain. The sauce has been made in Birmingham for 103 years and the move will likely result in the loss of both jobs and the brand's most favoured status as the UK parliament’s brown sauce of choice.
Even more interesting is the proposal by rivals Branston to consider adopting the same symbol on their own Branston brown sauce bottle. Heinz' move has sparked off another round of hand wringing by the British about the importance of “Britishness” and point of origin as an emotional and pivotal part of culture.
Here at DIFFUSION we’re both defenders of point of origin and truth in labelling as important elements of brand heritage (see blog 7 February 2006 Points of Origin)
