PM spills the beans during Heinz-Wattie's factory tour in Hastings

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern recalled her childhood fondness for Wattie's baked beans in toasted sandwiches. Photo / Paul Taylor

Another Prime Minister, another debatable food combination.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern revealed her unusual toastie preference while on a tour of the Heinz-Wattie's factory in Hastings on Thursday.

Wearing a personalised lab coat Ardern got a behind-the- scenes look at Hawke's Bay's major food processing and packaging plant, alongside Ikaroa-Rawhiti MP Meka Whatiri and Tukituki MP Anna Lorck.

The factory tour included a visit through the canning and labelling departments, as well as hearing from agronomists and producers, and taste-testing new products in research and development.

She said she visited a lot of factories through her work and enjoyed learning more about where food comes from and how the supply chain operates.

"You'd be hard pressed to find a family in New Zealand that didn't have a connection to Wattie's.

"For me it's baked beans."

She recalled a childhood spent enjoying toasted sandwiches every Sunday after church, spaghetti on her sister's and baked beans in hers.

Tukituki MP Anna Lorck, Ikaroa-Rahiwiti MP Meka Whatiri and Prime Minister Ardern got a behind the scenes look at one of Hawke's Bay's largest employers, Heinz-Wattie's. Photo / Gianina Schwanecke

Ardern would not be drawn on whether she thought tinned spaghetti was an acceptable pizza topping.

Former Prime Minister Bill English caused international controversy in 2017 after posting a photograph of a homemade pizza featuring tinned spaghetti and pineapple.

"That's probably enough controversy for me today," she said referencing her love of baked bean toasties.

She said memories like her baked beans helped make Wattie's such a successful brand and she praised recent innovations such as an increased focus on plant-based food products.

"It's not just where you've been with the products but where you're going."

Ardern also praised Wattie's staff for their work during the lockdown and keeping the country fed and well supplied.

Staff at Wattie's, one of Hawke's Bay's largest employers, worked an additional 200,000 hours last year providing an extra 23 million meals to families in New Zealand.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern praised the efforts of Heinz-Wattie's staff during Covid-19 last year, which saw them produce an additional 23 million meals. Photo / Paul Taylor

She acknowledged a labour shortage and that it was a difficult environment for employers today because of border closures, with a need to train and attract more domestic workers.

"This is our way to try and get in front of labour shortages in different parts of the primary industries and skills shortages in our domestic labour force."

They had focused on increasing workers in the trades and construction industries through removing the cost to training and subsidising and supporting employers with taking on apprentices, she said.

Ardern also touched on recent nurses strikes adding that the Government "wanted to be back at the negotiating table".

"Ultimately the goal is to get agreement so there is no need for strike action," she said.

AFter disruptions along State Highway 2 during a gang member's funeral procession, Ardern said her government maintained that confronting issues head-on didn't preclude them from "cracking down on illegal behaviour and activity from gangs".

Ardern also visited Te Taiwhenua o Heretaunga in Hastings.