In 1848 some ketchup manufacturers in America came under
fire for their unsanitary practices; coal tar was frequently used
to heighten the red colour in ketchup. Others made the condiment
from concentrated tomato pulp in the off-season, which they stored
in questionable circumstances. This put eaters at risk of developing
serious illnesses. This debate over ketchup continued until the
1900s, when the US Pure Food Act put strict limits on food manufacturers.
Contents Include
US government standard regulations for 1901 ketchup state that
ketchup includes:
Cooked and strained tomato sauce
Vinegar
Sugar or a similar sweetener
Salt
Onion or garlic flavours
Various spices such as cinnamon, cloves, mace, allspice, nutmeg,
ginger and/or cayenne pepper
Grading standards dating to around 1953 dictated that ketchup
that flowed only nine centimetres in thirty seconds received the
Grade A rating. 4 The standards were revised in 1991 so that now
Grade A ketchup only needs to ooze three to seven centimetres in
thirty seconds to make the grade - an even thicker state.
