Not ketchup but real blood

Its website describes Kraft Heinz as the

No 5 food company in the world but doesn’t specify by what metric, and it may have to do some quick updating after the announcement of a $15bn writedown and a probe by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Wall Street hammered the share price down 27% in a day, as well as dragging down other big branded producers amid concerns that consumer tastes have evolved beyond brands familiar in the 1960s.

Kraft Heinz’s quiver of brands includes the unparalleled Heinz Tomato Ketchup alongside the appalling Kraft macaroni & cheese, and of course Kool-aid, the poster child of the “No such thing as bad publicity” movement after its widely believed association with the Jonestown massacre. One investor who is of a similar vintage to many of Kraft Heinz’s products is Warren Buffett, who saw some $4bn wiped off the value of Berkshire Hathaway’s position in the company.

The nuptials between Kraft and Heinz were orchestrated by 3G Capital, the Brazilian-us group that led the cobbling together of Anheuser-busch Inbev, whose shares also dropped 4% in the day. This suggests that investors are questioning the business model of piling on debt while slashing costs to the bone, and with Kraft Heinz’s net debt sitting at $30bn, a cheeky five times ebitda, it’s clear there should be very real concerns. The biggest fear, however, is that the company is confusing long-lived brands for longloved brands, and that increasingly health-conscious consumers are deserting them for fresh, organic ingredients.