The Kraft Heinz Company

The Kraft Heinz Company is the third-largest food and beverage company in North America and the fifth-largest globally, formed on 2 July 2015 through the merger of Kraft Foods Group, Inc. and H.J. Heinz Company. Headquartered co-jointly in Chicago, Illinois and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the company markets more than 200 brands across 55 product categories and generates annual revenues of approximately USD 25.8 billion (2024). Kraft Heinz employs approximately 36,000 people and sells products in around 150 countries.

In addition to its brand portfolio, Kraft Heinz has drawn attention from the food technology community for two areas of innovation: an ambitious programme to electrify and decarbonise its manufacturing operations — backed by USD 170 million in US Department of Energy funding — and its early role in the development of radio frequency (RF) sterilisation for packaged food products.

Company profile

History

H.J. Heinz Company was founded by Henry John Heinz in 1869 in Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania, initially producing condiments and preserved foods including the ketchup that became the company’s flagship product.

Kraft Foods traces its origins to James L. Kraft, who began a wholesale cheese business in Chicago in 1903. The company grew to become one of the largest packaged food businesses in the United States, and operated as Kraft Foods Group Inc. following a spin-off from Mondelēz International in 2012.

In 2013, the private equity firm 3G Capital — in partnership with Berkshire Hathaway — acquired H.J. Heinz for USD 23.3 billion in what was at the time the largest food industry acquisition in history. The 2015 merger with Kraft Foods created The Kraft Heinz Company, then the fifth-largest food and beverage company in the world.

A proposed separation of the company into two independent entities was announced in September 2025 but halted in February 2026.

Brand portfolio

Kraft Heinz manages more than 200 brands across product categories including condiments, sauces, cheese, dairy, meat, beverages, and convenience meals. Eight brands generate annual revenues exceeding USD 1 billion.

Selected major brands:

Sustainability programme

Kraft Heinz has established sustainability commitments under three pillars: Healthy Living & Community Support, Environmental Stewardship, and Responsible Sourcing. Its ESG framework received Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) validation in 2024, covering net zero and 2030 interim targets.

Climate and emissions

• Net zero target: Kraft Heinz has committed to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across its entire value chain by 2050
• Renewable electricity: 22.3% of electricity from renewables in 2024, up from 7% in 2021, supported in part by a virtual power purchase agreement covering a 158 MW wind farm in Texas
• Indonesian manufacturing: The factories in Pasuruan and Karawang (near Jakarta) achieved 95% emissions reductions compared to 2021 baseline by 2023 — through biomass boilers (candlenut shells, rice husks, palm kernel shells), rooftop solar, and renewable electricity contracts

Water and packaging

• Water: 19.5% reduction in water use in high-risk watershed areas against a 2019 baseline, approaching the 20% reduction target
• Plastic: Target to reduce virgin plastic use by 20% by 2030 (from 2021 baseline)

Sustainable sourcing

Kraft Heinz operates a Sustainable Agriculture Practice programme targeting 100% sustainable sourcing of key ingredients — tomatoes, wheat, and dairy — by 2025, with a focus on supporting regenerative farming practices.

Electrification of manufacturing

In March 2024, the US Department of Energy awarded Kraft Heinz USD 170 million under the project “Delicious Decarbonization Through Integrated Electrification and Energy Storage” — one of the largest single investments in food manufacturing electrification in US history. The programme covers ten US manufacturing plants:

Technologies being installed across these sites include heat pumps, electric heaters and boilers, anaerobic digesters, biogas boilers, solar thermal and photovoltaic systems, and thermal energy storage.

Expected outcomes by 2030:

The Holland, Michigan plant received an additional USD 13 million investment for electrification and clean energy. The Lowville, New York plant received approximately USD 22 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act for its transition to clean energy. Decarbonisation roadmapping for the programme was supported by ENGIE Impact.

Radio frequency sterilisation

Kraft Heinz — through its predecessor Kraft Foods — is among the early industrial contributors to the development of radio frequency (RF) in-pack sterilisation for commercially packaged food. In the early 2000s, Kraft Foods provided financial support and technical expertise to a pilot-scale RF sterilisation research programme conducted at 27 MHz, the most widely used ISM-band frequency for food applications.

The research focused on RF sterilisation of macaroni and cheese packaged in polymeric 6-pound trays conforming to US military ration specifications — a product format whose heterogeneous composition (pasta + sauce) and large package size made it a technically demanding test case for achieving uniform sterilisation without overcooking. Kraft Foods technical advisors Evan Turek and Dr. Ming H. Lan (Glenview, Illinois) contributed to the research alongside funding from the US Army Soldier Support Center.

The study, published in the Journal of Food Science (Wang et al., 2003), examined whether RF volumetric heating could shorten sterilisation process time and improve product quality compared to conventional retort processing. The findings supported the principle that RF’s volumetric heat deposition reduces cumulative thermal load and product deterioration relative to conduction-dependent retort methods — consistent with the broader evidence base for RF in-pack processing described in the scientific literature.

The 27 MHz frequency was selected in this research specifically because 40.68 MHz — the other principal ISM-band food frequency — is restricted in several countries, making 27 MHz more appropriate for internationally scalable applications.

Research and development

Kraft Heinz operates a major European R&D and Innovation Centre in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, established in 2013. Following a EUR 70 million investment over three years (completed 2025), the facility hosts high-speed filling lines and a pilot plant, and houses food and packaging experts, process engineers, chefs, nutritionists, microbiologists, and sensory and consumer science specialists. The Nijmegen centre supports innovation for Kraft Heinz brands outside the United States.

A EUR 70 million expansion of the manufacturing facility in Alfaro, Spain — boosting production capacity by 50% — was also completed in 2025.

Kraft Heinz has developed an internal AI engine for manufacturing process optimisation, reported to have reduced product development time by 50%. The company has also invested USD 400 million in a state-of-the-art automated distribution centre.

Acquisitions (selected)

Market position and ownership

Kraft Heinz is listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange (ticker: KHC) and is a component of the Nasdaq-100 and S&P 500 indices. Berkshire Hathaway holds a 27.5% ownership stake. The company is the third-largest food and beverage company in North America after Nestlé and PepsiCo, and fifth-largest globally.