OPINION/COMMENTARY

Ketchup: More than a Vegetable?

While we don’t buy the notion that organic products are any more wholesome than others, the marketing potential of the term is clear. But if the reporter had gone back just a few more decades, he would have discovered some interesting history concerning a less appreciated aspect of organic food—profiteering. Ironically, this episode involves the source of Teresa Kerry’s fortune, the H. J. Heinz Company, and its best known product, ketchup. The “pure food” movement began in the early 1900s, as technological advances in such areas as canning and preservatives revolutionized food processing. Consumers benefited from lower prices and increased choice, but at the same time new methods of food adulteration arose. While the health hazards of such adulteration were frequently exaggerated, there was some cause for concern. A movement arose to eliminate preservatives from processed foods. One of its earliest battles was over the use of benzoate as a preservative in ketchup....