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Ketchup shortage hits restaurants across the United States
NBC News ^ | April 7, 2021, 8:10 AM EDT | Chrissy Callahan

Posted on 04/07/2021 7:02:59 AM PDT by deport

If you're someone who appreciates the phrase "I put ketchup on my ketchup," you'll be interested — and perhaps slightly horrified — to hear about the latest supply chain shortage to hit the country.

As first reported by The Wall Street Journal, ketchup packets are apparently in short supply right now, and restaurants and fast-food chains are struggling to keep up with the demand.

(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Food; Society
KEYWORDS: food; restaurants
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To: exDemMom

Yes, it’s the acidity that makes it shelf stable. When I waited tables we never refrigerated the ketchup bottles. This is SOP in the restaurant industry. Of course we were cycling through it pretty quickly.

Here’s some commentary including Heinz’s official statement on the matter:

https://www.today.com/food/should-you-keep-ketchup-fridge-or-pantry-t107837


41 posted on 04/07/2021 7:51:44 AM PDT by Yardstick
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To: BBQToadRibs2

PM for you.


42 posted on 04/07/2021 7:54:54 AM PDT by Fury
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To: cuban leaf
About 25-30 years ago, ketchup was dethroned as the number one condiment. It was replaced by salsa.

Makes sense from a personal standpoint. :) I always have salsa in the fridge, but no ketchup. I very rarely use the stuff. Just not a fan.

43 posted on 04/07/2021 7:56:30 AM PDT by Allegra
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To: Farmerbob

I’m well aware of the packets. Believe it or not, there are plenty of old home cooking restaurants that use bottles.


44 posted on 04/07/2021 8:01:05 AM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: Allegra

I just recently returned to ketchup from tarter sauce for fries. But the truth is, I very rarely eat fries.


45 posted on 04/07/2021 8:01:08 AM PDT by cuban leaf (We killed our economy and damaged our culture. In 2021 we will pine for the salad days of 2020.)
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To: cuban leaf

Ketchup vs salsa...

Two different food groups...and both at the top of my food pyramid.


46 posted on 04/07/2021 8:02:57 AM PDT by moovova (Yo GOP....we won't forget.)
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To: Fury

“Loved that show. Have it on DVD.”

A local hamburger joint has every episode playing all the time. It’s a special treat to go in to eat and find that episode playing on the TV.


47 posted on 04/07/2021 8:16:40 AM PDT by T-Bird45 (It feels like the seventies, and it shouldn't.)
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To: deport

IT’S ABOUT TIME!!!!!!
Let the BBQ sauce take over begin!!!
Long live the resistance


48 posted on 04/07/2021 8:17:16 AM PDT by Okimi2200 (Semper Fi to the constitution not the white house)
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To: ferret_airlift

There’s Heinz with it’s “little brown children” on the factory line.

Didn’t care much for ketchup before covid but am on a ketchup kick these days. Ack, shouldn’t have nixed it on the last grocery order.


49 posted on 04/07/2021 8:18:21 AM PDT by bgill
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To: exDemMom

Um... you don’t keep your ketchup in the fridge? Yikes.

Growing up, my Mom always kept an open bottle of ketchup on a shelf in the kitchen. That along with an open jar of Crisco for baking and frying. I think the Crisco would go bad after many months. The ketchup seemed to be good forever. This all might have been because my Mom grew up in an age when an “ice box” was indeed a box, with ice, so there wasn’t a whole lot of room to store anything inside it.


50 posted on 04/07/2021 8:19:04 AM PDT by Flick Lives (“Today we celebrate the first glorious anniversary of the Information Purification Directives.”)
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To: deport

Little plastic cups with snap on lids... filled with ketchup from economy size containers..

(the kind of plastic cups used in deli salads...)


51 posted on 04/07/2021 8:27:10 AM PDT by GOPJ (We need a better class of 'elites' - the ones we have now are more like stupid white trash...)
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To: Bell Bouy II

Lots of companies put out ketchup without high fructose corn syrup - they use natural sugar instead - - which is much healthier...(Hunt’s has one...)


52 posted on 04/07/2021 8:29:24 AM PDT by GOPJ (We need a better class of 'elites' - the ones we have now are more like stupid white trash...)
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To: BBQToadRibs2

There are a ton of different ketchup recipes and not all are tomato based. In fact originally it was a fermented fish sauce. Over the years its gotten sweeter and has been standardized by the FDA. I’ve got some old cookbooks and have made some versions from 1920s and earlier. Some were pretty good acme awful but none were like current katchup. I haven’t made them again.


53 posted on 04/07/2021 8:35:38 AM PDT by airedale ( )
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To: metmom

I used to buy one bottle every two years or so.


54 posted on 04/07/2021 8:37:45 AM PDT by Colt1851Navy (What was wrong with Nixon?)
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To: Bell Bouy II

It is and thats why I look for the ones with less sugar Even Ralphs (Kroger’s) carries it but 8 usually buy at Sprouts and Whole Foods.


55 posted on 04/07/2021 8:38:39 AM PDT by airedale ( )
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To: deport; All
Who eats ketchup anymore? Full of sugar.

It's like eating Miracle Whip instead of real mayonnaise.

Hot sauce is the only thing I put on my food.

Now I'm loaded up with sodium!

Can't win for losing anymore.


56 posted on 04/07/2021 8:40:21 AM PDT by HotHunt
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To: GOPJ

good to know I suppose even thou I cant recall the last time I had any brand of the stuff.

Now Worcestershire in a tomatoe paste I whip up works for me on home fries and burgers and steaks and anything else I feel like dumping it on.


57 posted on 04/07/2021 8:55:51 AM PDT by Bell Bouy II
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To: Flick Lives

“If bacteria won’t grow in it...”

Wow. Didn’t know that. Definitely worth noting.


58 posted on 04/07/2021 9:23:37 AM PDT by Third Wheel
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To: deport

They (typical fast food places) throw a half dozen in with each order, and most are probably discarded. The short question “Extra condiments?” would save a lot of waste.


59 posted on 04/07/2021 9:36:46 AM PDT by JimRed (TERM LIMITS, NOW! Militia to the border! TRUTH is the new HATE SPEECH.)
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To: PGR88

My employer manufactures construction chemicals. While raw materials are a challenge, packaging is equally difficult right now to to global supply chain issues.

Since ketchup is pretty much all commodity raw materials and is mostly sourced domestically, I suspect that packaging materials are the challenge.

Plastics are petroleum based and with the deep freeze in Texas, that’s affecting things all down the line.

(yes it’s warmed up but many pipes cracked and must be replaced at the refineries.)


60 posted on 04/07/2021 9:39:12 AM PDT by cyclotic (Live your life in such a way that they hate you as much as they hated Rush Limbaugh)
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