Overview
- Stiftung Warentest examined 23 tomato ketchups for taste, nutrition, contaminants, and packaging and gave 12 products an overall rating of good with one failure.
- Born Tomatenketchup earned the only top taste score of 1.0 and costs about €0.44 per 100 ml.
- Felix Tomaten Ketchup failed after labs found the mold toxin alternariol at eight times the EU guideline, which is non-binding yet used as a safety benchmark.
- Sugar levels ranged widely, with an average near 16 g per 100 ml and Heinz at 26.6 g, so even a spoonful can count heavily toward a child’s daily limit.
- Sugar-reduced variants often used sucralose to sweeten, which testers said harms flavor and persists in wastewater, and they recommended glass because many plastic labels block recycling.