HP Sauce's New Recipe: Heinz Controversially Slashes Sodium In 116-Year-Old Condiment

Heinz inherited a major responsibility when it bought HP Foods from French company Danone in 2005. The company manufactured the two most iconic condiments in the UK -- Lea & Perrin Worcestershire sauce and HP Sauce. (HP Sauce is an extremely popular brown sauce that is commonly eaten atop traditional British foods.) The latter had been the companies namesake for more than a century and was named for the House of Parliament, as British an institution as tea and crumpets. Britain was probably never going to be happy to have a huge American corporation in control of such a beloved institution -- but Heinz also has not made things easy for themselves.

First came the announcement, in 2006, that Heinz was shutting the HP factory in England and moving production to its own factory in Elst, The Netherlands. This led one Minister of Parliament to call for a total boycott of Heinz products in the UK.

But this week brought the even more controversial revelation that Heinz had changed the HP Sauce Recipe for the first time in 116 years. The company said that it had made the move to bring HP sauce in accordance with new government regulations on sodium usage. The sauce was tweaked to reduce sodium levels from 2.1% to 1.3% by weight, more than a third.

British people are furious over the move. Celebrity chef Marco Pierre White, famous for his temper, denounced the recipe change, calling the new HP sauce "disgusting." The Telegraph practically compares the recipe tweak to a war crime, describing the move as "secretly changing the HP Sauce recipe at 116 years." The Twitterati are up in arms. Heinz also owns the second-biggest brown sauce brand, Daddies, and has plans to rejigger that recipe as well, leaving salt-loving brown sauce eaters nowhere to turn but generic supermarket varieties.

HuffPost Food is absolutely in support of healthier packaged and fast foods, but there is also something to be said for the traditional. And the best argument we've seen for the return "Classic" HP Sauce is pretty convincing: people use condiments very sparingly, so a 38% cut in sodium, on something that people might only eat two tablespoons of, is not going to make a major difference in health.

Quick Poll

Do you think Heinz was right to change the HP Sauce recipe?

Yes, food companies should do everything they can to cut sodium.

No, Heinz should have respected the British love of traditional HP Sauce.

I don't know what HP Sauce is, so I'd have to try it to be able to say.

Share your vote on Facebook so your friends can take this poll

Comments

[ImConfused]

05:41 PM on 09/13/2011

I love my HP sauce, it's great on eggs and steak or in a Bloody Mary. But Heinz ownes it now and they can do with it as they want. But don't forget the Cause and Effect Rule.

I will just have to buy a case or two and stick it in the pantry

P.S - A1 Sucks!

[SimonBao]

12:18 PM on 09/13/2011

Just out of curiosity... is there any such thing as a "Minister of Parliament?"

The article makes reference to such a creature, "this led one Minister of Parliament to call for a total boycott of Heinz products in the UK."

Can I assume that the person was either a Cabinet Minister, or a Member of Parliament?

I've never heard of a "Minister of Parliament."

[Infostream]

10:04 AM on 09/13/2011

This is mystifying. Why didn't they just keep the existing product and add a low-sodium version that inexplicably costs 1/3 more like most companies do?

[Rprod]

09:47 AM on 09/13/2011

Shouldn't people be upset at the government that forced the change in sodium and not Heinz?

[Carbon Forteetoo]

10:06 AM on 09/13/2011

No. They should not.

[Karen Devine]

01:16 AM on 09/13/2011

Leave my HP Sauce alone! I grew up using this sauce as both my parents were from Scotland. There is no other sauce like it...I love it just the way it is. I hope we can still buy the original recipe.

[Thaddeus Jude]

12:06 AM on 09/13/2011

"Britain was probably never going to be happy to have a huge American corporation in control of such a beloved institution"

Were they really happy that a French company was making it?

[gregory57]

11:25 PM on 09/12/2011

Heinz could easily test-market a lower sodium version of HP sauce and see how it was accepted.
To change the recipe and fail to offer the original is quite chauvinistic, in my opinion.

Heinz offers a lower sodium version of it's popular ketchup in the United States, why not offer the same thing to the Brits, Heinz?

[eric681]

04:50 PM on 09/12/2011

If this happened in America I'd be super upset. I put condiments on everything that I eat because it tastes a whole lot better. If some company tried to mess with my condiments I'd get really upset and start making a lot of twitters about it and call my congressperson. I mean this is America, hands off of my food. I worked hard I can eat what I want!!!

[Don Griffin]

04:30 PM on 09/12/2011

Didn't I read that the move was made to meet government standards?
"The company said that it had made the move to bring HP sauce in accordance with new government regulations on sodium usage." So the company had the choice of changing the formula or breaking the law.
This is what happens when government get too involved.

[rcmfla]

04:15 PM on 09/12/2011

Heinz really had no reason to mess with a classic recipe in the first place. But, can't people just salt it to their own taste? This is a case where adding salt is easier than subtracting it table-side.

[plazmaorb]

03:53 PM on 09/12/2011

Heinz will go back after all this.. just like Coke did when they came out with New Coke and failed horribly. Learn by history, dont fix whats not broken.

or just come out with 2 version.. The Classic and The Low Sodium version... see which one sells the most and go from there.

[gregory57]

11:26 PM on 09/12/2011

Seems like a no-brainer to me.

[Reader2222]

03:48 PM on 09/12/2011

Don't mess with HP! It's a staple in my kitchen. Tastes great on scrambled eggs. A1 Steak sauce is too sweet by comparison, in my opinion.

[chaapai]

03:13 PM on 09/12/2011

What's it taste like? I've never heard of it. I saw the bottle and thought they messed with A-1 sauce and I was going to go all medieval on their tush. I put that atop many of my foods.

[Tracy R Gibson]

11:35 PM on 09/12/2011

It is better than A1. You should try it.

[halfpricefaustian]

02:42 PM on 09/12/2011

How could they not understand that the Brits wouldn't take to reduced salt in one of their favorite foods? Those people love their Marmite, after all.

[davidinct]

02:15 PM on 09/12/2011

Seems to me the number one rule in marketing is to understand your customer. If Heinz had simply followed that rule, none of this controversy would have materialized.

[SkyhawkIIAimer]

02:41 PM on 09/12/2011

Of course, maybe they did their research and found that only a few people would whine about it.