From Heinz to MasterFoods: A dietitian ranks the most popular supermarket tomato sauces
Whether you call it tomato sauce or ketchup, it’s a non-negotiable staple on Australian dinner tables. But trying to choose one in the supermarket aisle isn’t as simple as it used to be.
With up to 15 brands crowding the shelves, each claiming superior ingredients, unique flavours and vastly different price points, picking the right bottle can feel overwhelming.
Stumped over which tomato sauce to buy? A dietitian has done the hard yards and ranked them. Jo Abi
Even leading Australian dietitians Leanne Ward and Susie Burrell admit to loving a squeeze or two on their family meals.
But which tomato sauce actually deserves a spot in your fridge? Thankfully, Ward has done the hard work for us.
She analysed the most popular supermarket tomato sauce brands for their tomato content, added sugar, and overall health claims to crown her favourite brands, later sharing the results on the Nutrition Couch podcast.
There are up to 15 different brands crowding the shelves in a single supermarket. Getty Images/iStock photo
The best supermarket tomato sauce products
1. MasterFoods Squeezy Sauce Tomato Reduced Salt & Sugar
Tomato percentage: 87 per cent
Price: $4.20
Ward declared this one of the best tomato sauces on the market, placing it at number one on her list.
She said while there are brands with “cleaner” products, this MasterFoods creation triumphed due to its high tomato percentage. Ward also rated the fact it is made with “reduced salt and sugar”, ensuring it “comes out on top”.
Leanne Ward rated products according to tomato and sugar content. Jo Abi
2. Fountain Tomato Sauce Reduced Sugar
Tomato percentage: 85 per cent
Price: $2.20
“This one uses a bit of sweetener, maltal syrup, stevia and a bit of apple paste,” Ward said of her second-place sauce. However, she added that these are naturally-derived sweeteners.
Any sauce product with more than 80 per cent tomato was a winner in Ward’s books. Jo Abi
3. Coles 30% Sugar Reduced Tomato Sauce
Tomato percentage: 81 per cent
Price: $2.10
Ward also rated Coles’ home brand tomato sauce, which is one of the more affordable offerings.
“It has some sugar added,” she said; however, with a high tomato content, it made it into her top three.
4. Heinz Tomato Ketchup Sauce Bottle 50% Less Sugar & Salt
Tomato percentage: 79 per cent
Price: $5.20
Brands use a combination of naturally derived and added sugars. Jo Ab
This is Ward’s personal favourite, she explained.
“It has a little blue label, it’s 50 per cent less salt and sugar, and I just find it that little bit richer and that little bit thicker, and so you use that little bit less,” she said.
5. Masterfoods Tomato Sauce
Tomato percentage: 79 per cent
Price: $4.20
Ward also rated Masterfoods’ standard Tomato Sauce highly, and noted some of the most well-known brands in this space had the highest content of tomatoes in their ingredients lists.
What didn’t make the cut
Ward observed the sauces with lower tomato percentages in their ingredients included some of the pricier, more bespoke products on the market: Beerenberg Tomato Sauce contained only 53 per cent tomatoes, Three Threes Tomato Sauce had 63 per cent, and Fancy Hank’s Tomato Sauce had 69 per cent.
“Then there’s quite a scattering of brands in that 70 per cent percentile,” the dietitian added.
“Obviously, when you’re looking at a tomato sauce, one would hope you’re probably getting a fairly reasonable amount of tomato in there.
“But I think what some people aren’t aware of, perhaps, is that you’re also getting quite a lot of sugar and salt in some of these varieties.
‘One would hope you’re probably getting a fairly reasonable amount of tomato in there.’ Jo Abi
“When it comes down to it, most people aren’t using a lot of tomato sauce. Most people are using a couple of teaspoons, or a tablespoon at most, so you do want to make sure the majority of what you’re using is tomatoes, and it doesn’t have too much added sugar.”
Ward suspects most people don’t appreciate just how much sugar can be found in some tomato sauce.
“You’re naturally getting some sugar from the tomato, and then quite a few brands will add some actual sugar in as well,” she said.
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