Heinz Baked Beans are a brand of

baked beans Baked beans is a dish traditionally containing white beans that are parboiled and then, in the US, baked in sauce at low temperature for a lengthy period. In the United Kingdom, the dish is sometimes baked, but usually stewed in sauce. Canned ...

produced by the

H. J. Heinz Company The H. J. Heinz Company is an American food processing company headquartered at One PPG Place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company was founded by Henry J. Heinz in 1869. Heinz manufactures thousands of food products in plants on six contin ...

. They have been sold as "Heinz Beanz" in the United Kingdom since 2008.

History

Heinz Baked Beans with Tomato Sauce trade card back

In 1886, Heinz Baked Beans were first sold at the

Fortnum & Mason Fortnum & Mason (colloquially often shortened to just Fortnum's) is an upmarket department store in Piccadilly, London, with additional stores at The Royal Exchange, St Pancras railway station, Heathrow Airport in London and K11 Musea In Hong ...

department store in London. After opening its first overseas office in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 1896, the company opened its first UK factory in

Peckham Peckham () is a district in southeast London, within the London Borough of Southwark. It is south-east of Charing Cross. At the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 Census the Peckham ward had a population of 14,720. History "Peckham" is a Saxon p ...

, south London, in 1905. This was followed by a second factory at

Harlesden Harlesden is a district in the London Borough of Brent, North West London. Located north of the Grand Union Canal and Wormwood Scrubs, the Harrow Road flows through the centre of the area which goes eastwards to Central London and west towards ...

, north-west London in 1919. Production was started at a former munitions factory at Standish near Wigan in 1946. A new factory opened in

Kitt Green Kitt Green is a suburb of Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Wigan. It is the location of a H. J. Heinz, Wigan, Heinz food processing plant.

, also near

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

, in 1958. Between 1941 and 1948, The

Ministry of Food An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister ...

classified Heinz Baked Beans as an "essential food" as part of its

wartime rationing Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resources being distributed on a particular ...

system. The Heinz factory in Kitt Green is one of the largest food factories in Europe, and produces more than 1 billion cans of food every year.

Advertising slogan

In 1967, Heinz launched an advertising campaign with the slogan "Beanz Meanz Heinz". The phrase was created by advertising executive Maurice Drake and went on to become one of the best-known advertising slogans in the United Kingdom. Drake later said the slogan was "written over two pints of beer in The Victoria pub in

Mornington Crescent Mornington Crescent is a terraced street in Camden Town, Camden, London, England. It was built in the 1820s, on a greenfield site just to the north of central London. Many of the houses were subdivided into flats during the Victorian era, an ...

". Drake died on 22 August 2021, at the age of 93. In 1998, Heinz Baked Beans was voted one of 12 brands that citizens of the United Kingdom think best represents the final 10 years of the millennium. In 2008, "Heinz Baked Beans" were renamed "Heinz Beanz", as the original title was "a bit of a mouthful to pronounce", according to the company. In 2016 Heinz's advertising campaign featuring people using empty beans cans as musical instruments was banned by the Advertising Standards Authority on safety grounds.

BPA allegations

In 2001, the UK's

Food Standards Agency , type = Non-ministerial government department , nativename = , nativename_a = , nativename_r = , logo = Food Standards Agency.svg , logo_width = , logo_caption = , seal = , seal_width = , seal_caption = , picture = , picture_width = , ...

found Heinz canned baked beans was one of a number of well-known canned products to be contaminated with the

hormone disruptor Endocrine disruptors, sometimes also referred to as hormonally active agents, endocrine disrupting chemicals, or endocrine disrupting compounds are chemicals that can interfere with endocrine (or hormonal) systems. These disruptions can cause ca ...

bisphenol A Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical compound primarily used in the manufacturing of various plastics. It is a colourless solid which is soluble in most common organic solvents, but has very poor solubility in water. BPA is produced on an industrial s ...

(BPA). This chemical forms part of the membrane that lines the cans. The Heinz company put out a statement – "Although UK and European food authorities have stated that minute levels of BPA in can coatings are safe, Heinz remains committed to moving to alternatives."

Production method

Heinz Baked Beans are produced by sealing raw haricot beans and tomato sauce in the cans, which are then placed in large

pressure cooker Pressure cooking is the process of cooking food under high pressure steam and water or a water-based cooking liquid, in a sealed vessel known as a ''pressure cooker''. High pressure limits boiling, and creates higher cooking temperatures which c ...

s. This gives the sauce its thick consistency and ensures a long shelf life for the product. A standard 415g can will contain an average of 465 beans.

The Beanz Museum

In 2019, Heinz opened the "Beanz Museum" as a pop-up exhibit in

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...

between 30 August and 1 September 2019. The museum contained an interactive and immersive exhibition about the history of Heinz's Baked Beans to mark the product's 150th anniversary .

References

External links

* {{Heinz Canned food Heinz brands Products introduced in 1886 Baked beans