Heinz Just Revealed It Made Ketchup With Tomatoes That Can Be Grown on Mars The condiment company teamed up with scientists to successfully create Heinz Marz Edition Ketchup.
By Emily Rella
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The billionaire space race and leaps and bounds made toward full human space tourism in the past years have made the prospect of traveling outside of this planet something that not only feels possible but fully probable in the near future.
The idea of eventually spending time in a completely different atmosphere raise questions about how people will spend their time exploring, sightseeing and well, eating.
Looks like Heinz Ketchup is ahead of the game with that.
The condiment company teamed up with scientists to successfully reveal Heinz Marz Edition Ketchup, a bottle of ketchup using tomatoes that were grown in conditions that mimic the atmosphere and conditions on the red planet.
"We're so excited that our team of experts have been able to grow tomatoes in conditions found on another planet and share our creation with the world," Chief Growth Officer for Kraft Heinz International Zone Cristina Kenz, said in a statement. "From analyzing the soil from Martian conditions two years ago to harvesting now, it's been a journey that's proved wherever we end up, Heinz Tomato Ketchup will still be enjoyed for generations to come."
The research and astrobiology team consisted of 14 people working over a nine month period at Florida Tech where they successfully grew a crop of tomatoes from earth-grown tomato seeds in the same water, temperature and soil conditions found on Mars.
"Two years ago, HEINZ and its Tomato Masters set out to successfully launch the first-of-its-kind experiment that has become one of the largest projects of its kind related to Mars ever conducted," the company said. "Experts in analyzing difficult soil conditions, picking the perfect seeds, and implementing world-leading agricultural techniques played a crucial role in ensuring the unmistakable taste of HEINZ Tomato Ketchup."
Heinz shared the news excitedly to fans on Twitter.
Attention saucetronauts: the Heinz Marz Edition had landed! Grown under Mars soil conditions, feast your eyes on mankind's first out-of-this-world ketchup. #HeinzMarzEdition pic.twitter.com/L3Yx1SnkxW
— H.J. Heinz & Co. (@HeinzTweets) November 8, 2021
"Attention saucetronauts: the Heinz Marz Edition had landed," the company said. "Grown under Mars soil conditions, feast your eyes on mankind's first out-of-this-world ketchup."
The ketchup is not for sale to consumers, but was tested at Heinz' HQ in Pittsburgh where it passed sufficient taste and quality tests.
"What this project has done is look at long-term food harvesting. Achieving a crop that is of a quality to become HEINZ Tomato Ketchup was the dream result and we achieved it," said Dr. Andrew Palmer, team lead of the project at the Aldrin Space Institute. "And working with the Tomato Masters at HEINZ has allowed us to see what the possibilities are for long term food production beyond Earth."
Kraft Heinz Co. was up 23.57% year over year as of Wednesday afternoon.
