Ketchup and its ironies have venerable history on this newsgroup. Here's an
example from 23 years ago (before net.cooks changed its name to
rec.food.cooking). As I mentioned in the original posting, for most of
ketchup's history in the US, it existed in many kinds besides tomato, was
often homemade, and had no added sugar.


In >, 29 January 1984,
rabbit!ark (Andrew Koenig, a familiar name on newsgroups in the 1980s)
wrote:

> Newsgroups: net.cooks,net.misc
>
> Subject: natural imitation ketchup (serious quote)
>
> Excerpt from 1984 Consumer Reports buying guide:
>
>
>"Today, sugar is a mandatory ingredient for a product called ketchup,
>catsup, or catchup, according to current Food and Drug Administration
>Standard of Identity. Tomatoes, vinegar, spices or flavoring (or both),
>onions or garlic (or both), and salt are also included in the standard.
>Salt can be omitted as long as the container is clearly labeled 'no salt
>added.' Without sugar, however, the product has to be called 'imitation'
>ketchup which leads some makers into interesting ironies.
>
>"For some reason, the FDA specifies sucrose, dextrose, glucose syrup, or
>corn syrup as the only appropriate sugars for ketchup. But certain ketchup
>makers choose instead to use honey or corn sweeteners, which some regard as
>more 'natural' sugars. Thus it is that, among the 18 brands we tested, two
>are strangely and wonderfully labeled 'natural imitation ketchup.' "
>
>
>Welcome to 1984.