# HISTORY OF H.J. HEINZ TOMATO KETCHUP THE SEARCH FOR THE PERFECT TOMATO 76054

This rarely seen 1940s corporate film attempts to explain the history of the H.J. Heinz Company and one of its all time great products, tomato ketchup. It starts over a hundred years ago with a search for tomatoes...and that's about 13 minutes of story. Finally the right seeds are developed by a firm that ends up being called the Livingston Seed Company. The experimentation done by Heinz to develop the perfect ketchup is dramatized at 14:30, with chemical analysis of different tomato varieties, that leads to a feat of genetic engineering...producing the "perfect tomato". The film ends with images of modern ketchup production as it occurred in the 40s, with shots of tomatoes being harvested and processed at a large factory. The handling of the tomatoes is something to seen as they are sorted, cleaned, trimmed -- that's the last time they are touched by human hands -- and then scalded, cooked and moved into bottles. 00:00 The film starts with an historical vignette set in Europe. Here, a man named Jonathan attempts to leave the country. He is stopped by a customs official who warns him that exporting rice or "love apples" (tomatoes) is punishable by death to protect the local trade monopoly. Jonathan feigns a sprained arm, successfully smuggling seeds hidden inside his bandage past the guards. 4:18 Jonathan distributes the smuggled seeds 12 rice and 12 tomato to American farmers. He mentions that while the Aztecs and Italians eat them, many Americans still view tomatoes with…

- Kind: Film
- Genres: History, Industrial and advertising
- Archive: [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/76054HeinzKetchup)
- Licence or status: none stated by the archive
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/ia/76054HeinzKetchup?play=1)