Could Salad Cream really be renamed Sandwich Cream?

IT’S been brought out at picnics and dolloped over British salads for more than a century.

But now the American makers of Heinz Salad Cream want to ditch its name – because they claim most of us don’t use it on salads any more.

Instead the sauce, which has been part of national life for 104 years, will be rebranded ‘Sandwich Cream’.

Executives at Kraft-Heinz believe the new name would better reflect the fact it’s used with ingredients such as tuna, ham and cheese to make sandwiches.

They also feel modern Britons are more likely to use mayonnaise on their salad. The idea of a name change was reported by the industry magazine The Grocer, which produced images of what the bottles might look like.

However, sceptical shoppers may suspect that the idea is more of a marketing stunt than a genuine initiative.

Heinz sparked uproar among its customers 19 years ago when it announced it might axe the sauce due to falling sales and the rising popularity of other salad dressings.

Months later the company said the product had been ‘saved for the nation’ after the furore was backed by former Labour grandee Roy Hattersley, and the Houses of Parliament’s catering committee made a plea to keep it.

According to The Grocer, KraftHeinz is working with its design partner Jones Knowles Ritchie on an overhaul of the sauce after research suggested the name didn’t ‘fairly represent the product’s ingredients or usage occasions’. It said only 14 per cent of consumers eat it with salad.

The company said: ‘As a marketleading business, Kraft-Heinz continues to audit its portfolio in order to meet the needs of consumers.

‘There are consumers now who haven’t grown up with the brand in the household and just don’t know about the iconic zingy flavour, or what to eat it with.’

Salad Cream will continue to be available, as no decision on a name change will be made until September at the earliest.

Launched in 1914, Salad Cream was the UK’s fifth biggest selling table sauce last year, with value sales of £28.8million.