Heinz- The sign of "fine" dining.

A couple weekends ago, Matt and I took a long trip to southern Maine for the day. Along the way we stopped at a 50's themed diner where they were serving your favorite condiment and mine: ketchup. Not just ANY ketchup (catsup) though- HEINZ ketchup. I had to laugh as I read the label though. (see below)

(if the print is too small:)

"The Ketchup Experts at Heinz know that the best tasting ketchup, only comes from the best tasting ingredients."

Tomato Concentrate Made from Red Ripe Tomatoes, Distilled Vinegar, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Corn Syrup, Salt, Spice, Onion Powder, Natural Flavoring.

Yes, I would have to agree. Tomato concentrate, HFCS, Corn Syrup and "natural flavoring" all taste delcious I'm sure. 

Now, If I'm going to play this, I've got to play fair right? After all, Heinz did. 

Heinz also makes Organic Ketchup. As you can see below.

Ok, Ok...where are the ACTUAL ingredients? 

Oh. HERE they are...or are they?

Can someone PLEASE tell me what the "*' is next to everything? and, an even bigger question, IF Heinz has the ability to make an HFCS free Ketchup, why do they continue to make ketchup WITH HFCS? (other than monetary reasons).

As I've roamed the web looking for images and ingredients labels, one thing has remained clear to me- people LOVE Heinz Organic ketchup. In fact, a lot of what I've been seeing is that most people prefer Organic Heinz over the Regular stuff...so here is the big question- why not discontinue the regular stuff and only make the Organic brand? If Heinz is SO confident that they are the "worlds favorite Tomato Ketchup", then why would they not only supply us with an Organic brand of Ketchup. Are they afraid they would lose consumers? If they are the best, would the consumers stop buying their brand because they only make Organic ketchup? These are questions I've been asking myself as I've been researching this wonderful brand of ketchup. And I have yet to find an answer at their next to useless website.

Oh, and just thought to tell you, I've scoured the web for photos of the Heinz ketchup labels and have had a very hard time. (even at their website)...and so, I'm left to wonder what the"*" mean on the label...until I go shopping on Wednesday I suppose.