Loblaw backtraced on its decision to pull French’s ketchup after an online campaign urged consumers to ditch Heinz in favour of the upstart condiment, which is made from Ontario-grown tomatoes.
French's Food Co. says all the ketchup it sells in Canada will now be bottled in this country.
All the tomatoes in French's ketchup sold in Canada already come from local farmers, but the company previously produced some of the product in the United States.
French's has partnered with Select Food Products Ltd. in Toronto to build a new manufacturing facility that will be fully operational early next year.
The company says it has also expanded its partnership with Highbury Canco, which sources and packages the tomatoes and tomato paste used in French's Canadian ketchup at its Leamington, Ont., facility.
The two will work together to develop and manufacture two new flavoured ketchups to be launched early next year.
French's ketchup soared in popularity earlier this year after a man's Facebook post lauded the U.S.-based company for its commitment to buy tomatoes from Canadian farmers while its competitor, Heinz, closed its Leamington plant, costing the community about 750 jobs.