Exhibit 99
H.J. Heinz Company
Board of Directors'
Guidelines on Political Contributions

No Company or subsidiary funds, facilities or services shall be used for
political contributions of any kind in support of or in opposition to:
 . any political party or political committee,
 . any candidate for office of any government--state, federal or local, or
 . any initiative, recall or referendum appearing on the ballot for a special or
  general election at any level of government relating to a candidate or office
  holder. This prohibition is absolute and applies to all elections or
  political candidates, campaigns or committees whether or not contributions
  might be lawful under the laws of any particular state or country wherein
  the Company or a subsidiary operates; except that the Company may:
  . pay the costs of establishing, administering and soliciting contributions to
    political action committees established under applicable law; and
  . contribute funds to non-profit organizations, provided such funds are not
    used to influence election campaigns, and such contribution has been
    pre-cleared with the Chairman of the Public Issues Committee.

"Political contributions" include but are not limited to subscriptions,
membership in associations or committees whose purpose it is to support or
oppose political parties or committees, candidates for public office or any
initiative, recall or referendum, loans of any sort, purchase of tickets for any
event in support of or in opposition to any political party or committee,
candidate for public office or any initiative, recall or referendum, purchase of
advertising space or furnishing of any supplies or performing services for or
against any political organization, committee candidate, public official or any
initiative, recall or referendum.

Nothing herein shall be construed to prohibit individual officers or employees
of the Company or a subsidiary from contributing their personal funds or their
personal free time to any political candidate or party, but under no
circumstances shall such officers or employees be reimbursed for such
contributions or be granted time off the job for such activity; nor prohibit the
Company or a subsidiary from contributing funds to a non-political organization
that opposes or supports a ballot, initiative or referendum (unrelated to a
specific candidate or office holder) that could, in the opinion of management,
adversely affect the business of the Company.

Political Contributions

The Company did not make any political contributions since the publication of
the 1998 H. J. Heinz Company annual report.