Henry Heinz used ketchup to improve food safety | Hacker News Reader

Henry Heinz used ketchup to improve food safety

nationalgeographic.com

51 pointsrfreytag29 comments

There are a number of possible origins for the name, not just the Chinese one:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketchup#Etymology

This article is a nice study in regulatory capture.

We think we invented startups and startup mentality but you can read about how someone like Heinz hustled and did things others didn’t; preservative free ketchup, clear pickled goods. Sounds trivial to us today but in context these ideas were pretty revolutionary.

Good example of how good regulation is good for capitalism.

“Protections” is a more concrete word indicating benefit rather than derisive “regulations,” which implies costs, burdens and barriers without a clear benefit. Paraphrasing an idiom from potentially-dangerous industries: Safety protection rules and laws are almost always written in blood.

No, that is only the case if you start from a particular viewpoint that is popular among right-wing Americans and almost no one else. From the perspective of first-world countries regulations are rules that we apply to processes where the dangers and externalities are diffuse enough that one or more parties may seek to ignore them for short-term gain; protection is the consequent of regulation, they are not simply synonyms.

Good for consumers, sure. But under a pure capitalist system it creates waste by people needing to spend time with quality control (presumably good things, but not ESSENTIAL to producing and selling a product, also makes starting a competing business harder)

What is a pure capitalist system? Do you mean one without government or one with the more functional market? My point was that government can make a stronger, more profitable market.

Even with the Web link, all I get is a “subscriber exclusive” splash page.

Is this a "submarine piece"?

It reads less like a documentary and more like a biography

http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html

I don't think so. The article openly says it's adapted from the book. It's just marketing. Submarines were hidden.

This was in the article:

I find it disturbing how long ketchup lasts.

It’s not natural.

It kind of is natural: tomatoes, vinegar, and salt all have anti-microbial properties. The rest of the ingredients are sugars and flavors. No preservatives needed, in this product at least (Heinz).

https://edrugsearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/heinz-ket...

sugar also has anti-microbial properties

At high enough concentrations. But that's true of anything.

Having a lot of salt or sugar (or any small molecule really) in something makes it impossible for cells to retain enough water to function.

Which is why your sauce/jam doesn't go bad (except at the top, where a layer of condensed water doesn't have the high concentration of sugar or salt).

Have you never bought tomatoes? They go bad faster than any other kind of fruit I’ve ever bought.

Ketchup is not raw tomatoes! Home made tomato juice with pulp is usually boiled and canned. It can be stored up to two years.

Pickles also last a long time. As do other fermented goods.

something something ph levels at the acidic/basic extremis

Pickles are literally pickled, that's a food preservation method.

Food chemistry is somehow subtle.

Rooster sauce/sriracha is also very 'resilient'.

On the other side bolonese and similar spoil fast.

Commercial rooster sauce has potassium sorbate in it.

If you mixed sugar, chilies, and garlic without vinegar or other preservatives, it would spoil as fast as bolognese.

Traditionally you don't add preservative, you ferment the mixture (though without the sugar). This has the advantage of producing more complex flavours but it's more expensive to manufacture because it takes longer. Or you can do it yourself. I make sauerkraut and it is very straightforward.

A big problem with bolognese is that it's not homogenous. So the protection you get from your preservation process isn't the same throughout.

What forbids bolognese brands to add a similar preservative ?

The way meat reacts to most preservatives + time. It would ruin the texture of the sauce. Imagine bolognese made with hot dogs.

Some restaurants refill ketchup bottles, which I've seen lead to some kind of fermentation where they spew when opened.

A common teenage prank is to add a spoon of baking soda to a glass ketchup bottle, put the lid on, and shake.

The next person to open it will have ketchup all over the ceiling and walls...

My guess is you saw that rather than a refilled bottle.

I don't know, I saw it many times over a fairly long time period. I suppose it could have been a long running prank.

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