No. 173

Heinz sauce factory closing today

Food company Heinz will fill its last bottles of tomato sauce in Australia today as the production giant ends its Australian tomato processing operations after 70 years.

The iconic company will close its last tomato sauce factory in Girgarre in northern Victoria, leaving 146 people jobless.

The factory workers have been getting used to the plan since May last year, when Heinz announced it would move tomato processing to New Zealand.

The move has bemused factory worker Ken Covington, who cannot understand the reason behind the closure.

"[It is] very sombre and very sad. Because it has dragged out for so long, we kept thinking 'oh, it will never happen, it will never happen' but the reality set in that it has happened," he said.

"We make the best sauce in the world there at Girgarre. We also made the best tomato paste in the world, so it is beyond us really."

Heinz and fellow food processing giant SPC have both complained that Australia's supermarket duopoly makes it hard to do business here.

Read more |  ABC Australia, 06.01.12

Design by Alice Shaw
Download the MITN iPhone app
Add us on Facebook
Made in the Now Three Sixty Five