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Food

04th Feb 2019

Expert confirms that ketchup should be kept in the fridge

JOE

Debate over

Some people are utter monsters and don’t refrigerate their tomato ketchup. These horrible people might live amongst you. They might be your work colleagues. Your flatmates. Your family or friends. Even your significant other.

And they are out there, ruining your chips or bacon sandwich, by leaving the bottle of ketchup in the cupboard, or on the dining table. When you squirt that otherwise-delicious condiment out, you realise that it is horrible and lukewarm.

It is a debate that is raged for ages – but now we have an expert opinion. The Takeout did an investigation into which condiments should be kept in the fridge.

They spoke to Cynthia James of the Cornell Food Venture Center at Cornell University, who gave her expert (and utterly correct) opinion, saying that if while if you go through more than a bottle a week, it is probably ok to keep it out – but generally it is much better to keep it refrigerated.

“Room temperature is where microbes thrive and multiply at the fastest rate; refrigeration slows down this growth,” said James.

A Heinz spokesperson also told The Takeout: “Heinz recommends refrigerating its products after opening to maintain the best product quality.”

So there you go – don’t let anyone just leave it out on the side again.