Heinz picked up his baked beans and ketchup in a row from Tesco’s shelves over prices.
The US conglomerate Kraft Heinz has halted the supply of some products to Britain’s largest supermarket, causing gaps on shelves and Tesco’s website.
This stems from a dispute between the two businesses over raising the price of some Heinz products as costs in the food supply chain rise.
It is understood that Heinz wants to increase prices, but Tesco has offered resistance and its decision to publicly defend its customers against ‘unjustifiable price increases’. The supermarket highlighted Heinz-baked beans as one of the products affected, and the supermarket urged customers to purchase Branston Baked Beans or Tesco’s own branded products instead.
The row is reminiscent of “Marmitegate,” in which bottles of grease disappeared from Tesco stores in 2016 as supermarket owner opposed Unilever’s attempt to increase wholesale prices.
A Kraft Heinz spokesman said the company had faced significant increases in commodity and production costs and wanted to supply products at the right price “without compromising on quality”.
Like most of the economy, the food industry is struggling with rising energy costs and disruption of supply chains caused by the war in Ukraine.
Food price inflation hit 8.5pc in May with the price of butter and eggs jumping as much as 13.1pc and 12.6pc respectively, according to the Office for National Statistics.