Have you heard of "marrying ketchup bottles"?  I use to have to do that, not only with ketchup bottles, but the mustard and steak sauces too.  When Ken Hayes and I started having this conversation we realized that it's been awhile since we've seen a glass ketchup bottle.

I use to work at a restaurant that had a bladder of ketchup on the wall with a spigot, we had to re-fill the ketchup bottles every night so they looked fresh on the tables in the morning.  To their credit, we were recycling the bottles before recycling was "IN".  However, I was never comfortable doing that task because I always wondered how long the ketchup on the bottom had been there and if it was still good.

Apparently other people wondered that too because after the question was raised several years ago, Heinz asked restaurants to refrain from refilling the glass bottles of ketchup.  I suppose ultimately if people became sick they could come back to the company that made the ketchup.  Many restaurants complied and you started to see the glass bottles disappear and the plastic bottles displayed on tables, they're non-refillable.

Bottom line is, if you're dealing with a glass bottle of ketchup and YOU break the seal to use it, you're good.  If you don't and there is air bubbles in the inside the bottle you could be dealing with a re-filled bottle.

Happy Eating!

More From KOOL 101.7