News recently came out of New Jersey that a counterfeiting ketchup operation was uncovered in an abandoned rented warehouse space. Tenants in the warehouse space complained about a bug problem and a 7,000 foot space covered in ketchup was discovered. The ketchup explosion was a result hundreds of bottles exploding after sugars fermented alongside acidic tomatoes and vinegar and built up pressure in the bottles. Heinz says that someone rented the warehouse space, bought regular Heinz ketchup in bulk and then attempted to transfer it to bottles labeled with Heinz’s premium, more expensive brand, called “Simply Heinz.” It’s amazing what people will even attempt these days just to make a few dollars.
As you can imagine, Heinz wasn’t amused. The counterfeit operation obviously violated their manufacturing and packaging practices. Not only was the whole operation unsanitary and just plain gross, no one knows if any other substance was added to the ketchup. The counterfeit ketchup could have also posed a health hazard if the bottles had actually made it into the market. It’s not 100% clear if this problem was avoided, but the FDA is looking into it.
At Best Yet Express, not only are we an LTL freight company, but we also provide high-quality warehousing and cross docking services. It pretty much goes without saying that you won’t find any exploding ketchup bottles in our warehouse. Our customers’ goods are stored in our 38,000 square foot warehouse space in a safe and secure manner. Goods are handled with care and held in a space that is free from rodents and other contamination issues. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: when you use Best Yet Express for your warehousing and cross docking needs, we’ll treat your goods as our own.
