Heinz declares ketchup belongs at breakfast table as social media debate erupts

Ketchup is for breakfast.

That's what a popular condiment brand wants Americans to know when it comes to the age-old debate about whether it's acceptable or not to put ketchup on breakfast foods.

Heinz recently announced that its nearly 150-year-old tomato ketchup will be rebranded as "breakfast ketchup" – and served in glass maple-syrup bottles.

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"Go to any diner or breakfast spot in America and you'll almost certainly find a bottle of ketchup on the table," Jamie Mack, associate brand communications director for Heinz, told FOX Business this week. 

"Yet the question of whether ketchup belongs on breakfast foods is highly debated. Now, we're taking a stand to show the world that Heinz ketchup is the perfect breakfast accoutrement."

The new labels will be placed on either the classic Heinz ketchup bottles in 100 Waffle House locations nationwide or the limited-edition syrup bottles available in about 50 diners across Florida, Dallas, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

As Heinz attempts to normalize ketchup for breakfast, reaction to the announcement was mixed.

"Give me a six-pack of these with two eggs scrambled, thank you," one person commented on a Heinz Instagram reel.

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"I've never related more to anything in my life," another person remarked.

"I, too, put ketchup on my eggs," yet another commenter confessed.

An Indianapolis radio station's Facebook page asked followers what they thought of ketchup for breakfast, which was met with more sentiment for the condiment.

"Only way I will eat scrambled eggs is with ketchup," someone wrote.

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"I put ketchup on my hash browns and then mix it up with the scrambled eggs," another person said, adding that it "all ends up in the same place at the end."

Still, not everyone was enamored by the notion.

"Ketchup belongs nowhere near a breakfast table. Salt and pepper only," someone else said.

Heinz said its ketchup formula won't change – just the label and packaging.

Mack said the marketing campaign, which includes advertisements in New York City subway stations, is an effort to "educate the haters" on why Heinz ketchup "is perfect for any breakfast bite and evoke curiosity from anyone who hasn't considered the combination."

Josh Cooper, owner of Cooper's Next Level BBQ in Tallahassee, Florida, said he's "definitely not a ketchup-on-my-eggs kind of guy."

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"However, I have been known to throw some on my hash browns or home fries, especially my scattered, covered and chunked Waffle House hash browns," Cooper told FOX Business.

"For those who do love ketchup on their eggs, I would think they'd want to mix in some hot sauce to the ketchup first, but that's simply a guess from someone who doesn't understand the allure of putting ketchup on my eggs."

Kelly Springer, a registered dietitian in Skaneateles, New York, said ketchup is "most definitely" a breakfast condiment, although she prefers it on a hamburger at dinner.

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"However, as a dietitian, I have to say that ketchup is not the best condiment," she told FOX Business. 

"It is loaded with sugar and sodium."

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She recommends that people read the labels of ketchup bottles to check the serving size before use.