Heinz is launching a posh tomato sauce in an attempt to win over foodies.

The move is part of a wider revamp of its sauces offer, which sees the tomato content of its iconic ketchup brand boosted and the first label change in 40 years.

The new Special Blend sauce and the revamped Tomato Ketchup are two products in a raft of NPD from Heinz Sauces this year. Other lines include a Deli Mayo range, an HP Specials Steak Sauce and a reduced salt and sugar HP sauce.

Special Blend contains 275g of tomatoes for every 100g of sauce, as well as sea salt, Demerera sugar and cayenne pepper. The "more intense tomato" flavour would win back foodies to the brand who were looking for more specialist sauces, said Heinz Sauces marketing director Adrian Mooney.

The core £103m Tomato Ketchup brand will now contain 132g of tomatoes rather than 127g for every 100g of sauce. The revamped label featuring a new tomato logo and strapline 'Grown not made'. "We wanted to show the importance of provenance and that we have been growing our own tomatoes for 130 years," said Mooney. "We want to step up our tomato credentials."

The packaging is also being switched to PET so it is as transparent as glass and looks more red on shelf.

Heinz's launch this month of the New York-inspired Deli Mayo range comes six months after it debuted in the mayonnaise category. It will be backed with a £2.5m TV campaign and aims to push its £3m mayo sales a little closer to market leader Hellmann's £70.2m sales [Nielsen, 52 w/e 6 October 2007].

The launches are part of a new strategy, brought in by Mooney, who joined nine months ago, to tempt customers to have an extra bottle or jar in the cupboard. In the past 12 months Heinz has ramped up its focus on innovation, with this year's NPD pipeline set to emulate last year's when 115 projects were undertaken. "Success can only be achieved by leveraging trends that encourage consumers to buy and use more," he added.

The Lea & Perrins brand will also be a focus of innovation later this year.

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