THE Margin couldn't help but notice some minor difficulties that Tony O'Reilly's Heinz is having with the weights and measures people in some American states. It seems that Heinz has been selling underweight ketchup in at least 15 American states. In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, alone, 81,000 ketchup bottles were returned for being below their advertised weight. Heinz is facing a severe penalty in Philly - no less than $15,000.

Heinz has offered to replace any unopened underweight bottles with fresh full-weight bottles and has also begun putting more ketchup than normal into its plastic bottles. The company claims that the amount of underweight ketchup was no more than half a teaspoon a bottle. A Heinz spokeswoman told the International Herald Tribune somewhat pompously "We're not going to tolerate any circumstances that affect the integrity of our products", and blamed the shortfall on "moisture loss".