The British government’s population wide salt reduction plan of which Heinz recently joined has completely backfired on the company.

Among consumers, the taste is deplorable, and they are rejecting the sauce they beloved for 116 years:

But fans of the sauce say the small change has altered the whole taste, and they are not happy. The most famous critic, Michelin-starred Marco Pierre White, said he sent back a meal of sausages and mash at Piers Morgan’s Kensington pub The Hansom Cab last week because he thought it was off. “At first, I thought it was the sausages, but it wasn’t,” he said. “It was the HP, which tasted disgusting. It was definitely dodgy. I had no idea they had changed the recipe.”

Why would Heinz do this? It’s possible that Heinz caved to growing pressure from nanny state activists who are calling for population wide salt reduction as part of a larger anti-obesity effort. But, it should be clear from this case that when government overreaches and acts before there is proven evidence to support their decision, there will be unintended consequences:

“Heinz made the changes after signing up to the Coalition Government’s Responsibility Deal, which aims to reduce salt used by food manufacturers. The key pledges include an agreement to reducing salt in food so people eat 1g less per day by end of 2012….But as a result of the decrease in salt in the old sauce, the new line has more calories and carbohydrates.”

Continue reading HP Sauce recipe secretly changed after 116 years.

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