CHARACTER OF PRODUCTS. 13 



Not all of these measures are necessary to make a good ketchup, but 

 they show the care exercised in making an article of good appearance 

 and of the finest quality. 



The conditions under which ketchup is made and the care with 

 which the work is done at some of the better factories is equal to 

 that used in the manufacture of any food product. Whole selected 

 fruit is used, cleanliness is maintained at every point, the best grades 

 of spices, vinegar, granulated sugar, and salt are added for flavoring, 

 and the bottles are carefully washed. The ketchup put up under 

 such conditions will have a bright natural color, will remain good as 

 long as the container is unbroken, and will continue in that condition 

 for some time after opening if kept at a fairly cool temperature. 



INFERIOR PRODUCTS FROM "TRIMMING STOCK." 



In contrast with the strictly high-grade product is the great bulk 

 of the ketchup found on the market. The material is not whole 

 ripe tomatoes, but consists of the waste of the canning factory, 

 commonly designated as " trimming stock/' including the green, 

 moldy, broken, rotten, and generally unusable tomatoes, the skins, 

 cores, and stems from the peeling tables, and the surplus juice from 

 the filling machines, all of which may be allowed to stand during the 

 day and be run through the cyclone in the evening. At the end of the 

 season, the frosted and half -ripe fruits may be used. Part of this 

 material can not be considered "sound fruit" as contemplated by the 

 food and drugs act. The pulp is put up in barrels, preserved, and 

 allowed to stand, possibly in the sun, until a sufficient quantity has 

 accumulated for shipment. Old ketchup barrels may be used and 

 be none too clean. As a result, it is not uncommon to see an inch or 

 more of pulp in the bottom of a car at the end of shipment, caused 

 by the blowing out of the barrel heads from fermentation. The 

 sanitary condition of the factory may be poor, the handling of the 

 goods be unclean, the spices be the refuse from the spice houses, 

 the sugar be of the cheapest grade, and the bottles be only rinsed or 

 be used without even that precaution. The ketchup is a concoction 

 so heavily spiced with hot spices that the tomato flavor is lost and 

 might as well be anything else. The color is normally dirty brown. 



Between these two extremes are all grades, those for which whole 

 tomatoes, unsorted, are used, those for which trimming stock is 

 worked up promptly during the canning season, and those made 

 from stock of unknown history. Some manufacturers work under 

 good and some under poor sanitary conditions. There can be no 

 doubt that with proper selection and precaution much of the -by- 

 product of the canning factory and large quantities of tomatoes 

 which are unsuitable for canning might be used to advantage in the 

 manufacture of ketchup; but it requires a nicety of practice not 



