Heinz releases gadget to put the squeeze on ketchup packets

By Kaanita Iyer, CNN

Kraft Heinz has just rolled out a new product that the condiment company says is the “biggest innovation in sauce since the packet itself.”

Earlier this month, the world’s largest producer of ketchup announced the Packet Roller, a ketchup bottle-shaped gadget that allows users to squeeze the most out of a condiment packet.

“Do not click ‘purchase’ unless you are prepared to change everything about the way you sauce,” the Heinz Packet Roller website says. The roller goes for $5.70.

The roller is pocket-sized, can be added to a keychain, and features a packet corner cutter.

This announcement could be part of the fast-tracked, “future-focused culinary and packaging innovations” that Steve Cornell, president of Kraft Heinz’s US grocery business unit, hinted at earlier this year amid a shortage of ketchup packets.

A surge in takeout and delivery food orders during the pandemic led to a scarcity of ketchup packets.

In April, Heinz pledged to increase production of ketchup by 25% to 12 billion packets annually.

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CNN’s Tom Foreman contributed to this story.