Tesco pulls Heinz baked beans from shelves over price row

Heinz has stopped supplying Tesco with products like baked beans, ketchup and tomato soup after a disagreement over pricing.

This means you could find the classic cupboard staples missing from shelves in a Tesco store where you live.

The row has happened after the company Kraft Heinz raised the price of some of its items which it said was due to rising production costs.

But Tesco said it would not pass on the "unjustifiable price increases to our customers".

Kraft Heinz said it was working with Tesco to resolve the situation quickly.

A Tesco spokesperson said. "We're sorry that this means some products aren't available right now. We hope to have this issue resolved soon."

An industry magazine called Grocer magazine, which first reported the falling-out said some Heinz items are already out of stock,

Why has this happened?

In recent months food manufacturers have reported rising costs, including for energy and the things they use to produce their products.

They say as a result they need to raise the prices they charge to shops, like Tesco.

Kraft Heinz said the price change when it came to their products was down to "today's challenging economic environment - with commodity and production costs rising".

He said the firm always looked at how it could "provide value through price, size and packs.... at a price point that works within their budgets".

However supermarkets such as Tesco are doing their best to keep prices low for customers who they know are facing a cost-of-living squeeze and are shopping more carefully.

A Tesco spokesperson said the supermarket giant was "laser-focused on keeping the cost of the weekly shop in check.

"With household budgets under increasing pressure, now more than ever we have a responsibility to ensure customers get the best possible value, and we will not pass on unjustifiable price increases to our customers."

Kraft Heinz said it is "confident of a positive resolution with Tesco".

Has something like this ever happened before?

Yes it has! Back in 2016 Marmite, PG Tips tea and Pot Noodles were taken off the Tesco website after Unilever put prices up.

Earlier this year Colgate toothpaste also disappeared from Tesco's shelves after a similar fall-out with US consumer products giant Colgate-Palmolive.

Retail expert Ged Futter said rows over prices were more common than customers realised, but in most cases the impact wouldn't be dramatic enough for most shoppers to even notice.

These products made by Unilever were taken off the Tesco website in 2016 after the manufacturer put up the prices

He said the reason Heinz Tesco row had become obvious was because the products were so popular that shelves would have been empty within days of the supply being cut off.

Manufacturers have been absorbing unprecedented food price rises from retailers for the fourth or fifth time in the last 18 months, he said.

There are empty shelves in some stores and some Heinz items are also out of stock on Tesco's website

But he added, "Heinz are saying if you're not prepared to take it [at that price] we will stop supply.

"More manufacturers are saying that to retailers than ever before. I have examples of supplies being stopped in every single retailer except Aldi."

But he said he expects the two to come to some kind of agreement before long, "as Tesco can't afford not to have Heinz products and Heinz can't afford to not be in Tesco".

What have industry experts saying?

Retail analyst Steve Dresser said that in his view Tesco is right to use its scale and size to resist price increases, as these rises will have to be passed on to customers.

He said: "Larger suppliers like Heinz are significantly sized businesses in their own right and one would hope they were doing their bit to limit the scale of cost price increases, instead of merely passing them on."

Rising food prices have helped push inflation to a 40-year high and shoppers are already cutting back on the amount of food they buy, according to a survey for the Office for National Statistics.

Tesco said it had also seen signs of customers changing their behaviour in response to higher food prices, including shopping less frequently.