Feeding the masses: H.J. Heinz and the creation of industrial food

The H.J. Heinz Company's commitment to the purity and quality of its products in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century helped usher in an era of industrial food. While canning had been around for decades, it was not until both scientist and technologists innovations solved problems like bacterial contamination and mass-produced cans that Americans began to eat canned food on a regular basis. In addition to money-back guarantees, Heinz pioneered product tastings as a marketing tool in an attempt to convince skeptical housewives that his products were not only delicious, but were also safe to eat.