Fast food chains tend to modify something every few years. It may be the addition or removal of a new food item, a new recipe, an updated logo, or a new tagline.

Sometimes it’s the condiments, as at McDonald’s. If you’re a McDonald’s lover, you’ve undoubtedly opened dozens of fast food ketchup packets over the years, so you’ve probably noticed the flavor shift.

The reason McDonald’s ketchup tastes so different today compared to packets from more than a decade ago is that it truly is different. Unless you’ve been paying great attention, you’re probably one of the many people who missed an essential element on the label: the Heinz name brand.

Previously, the Heinz brand adorned each package, but today McDonald’s creates its own ketchup. Although the ingredients in the chain’s old and new ketchup are nearly identical, there are a few ingredients that aren’t shared by the two brands.

The change from Heinz to a new source is ultimately responsible for the ketchup tasting so different.

Mcdonald’s New Ketchup Contains Only Two Ingredients

For 40 years, Heinz and McDonald’s collaborated. That partnership ended in 2013 when Heinz hired the former CEO (and current board member) of Burger King Worldwide as its new CEO.

Soon after, McDonald’s ceased distributing Heinz ketchup and began selling a private-label version called McDonald’s Fancy Ketchup. By the way, the phrase “fancy” refers to USDA grade A ketchup.

If you’ve lately consumed McDonald’s packaged ketchup, you may have noticed that “fancy” is no longer on the label. While the term was remained on packets in 2015, a Reddit photo of a packet with a 2016 copyright revealed that the term had been removed from the label.

There is no change in the ingredients, therefore, it’s unclear why the company decided to remove it.

When a Reddit photo of McDonald’s brand ketchup is compared to a Heinz brand packet, the McDonald’s ingredient list exposes the following: tomato concentrate from red ripe tomatoes, distilled vinegar, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, water, salt, and natural flavors.

Heinz Ketchup contains the same components but does not include water. It also contains spice and onion powder, which McDonald’s ketchup does not. Some customers like the new flavor to the old, while others long for the days of Heinz.

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