Fridge or pantry, where do YOU keep ketchup?

IT’S a debate that’s raged across the country, leaving some shoppers struggling to keep their cool – and others seeing red.

Should you keep your tomato ketchup in the fridge or the kitchen cupboard?

The, er, source of the latest controversy is a supermarket that has chosen to stock ketchup in fridges in one of its stores.

And disagreements have spilled over on to social media sites, where shoppers have been arguing vociferously over where the sauce should be kept.

Asda, which is trying out the move at its store in Clapham, South London, carried out a poll showing that 53 per cent of those who took part favoured the fridge.

And on Twitter, users were similarly split.

One user wrote: ‘I hate cold ketchup...IT DOES NOT BELONG IN THE FRIDGE’.

And another said: ‘ Don’t trust anyone who keeps ketchup in the fridge.’

But a third responded, saying: ‘ Let’s settle this debate once and for all.

‘You’re an animal if you don’t put open ketchup in the fridge.’ Some- one with a foot in both camps said simply: ‘It’s logical.

‘If the ketchup isn’t opened it belongs in the cupboard and once it is opened it goes in the fridge. I can’t be the only one.’

The advice from most manufacturers is that, until they are opened, sauce bottles can be stored safely outside of the fridge for around 15 months.

Like the use-by dates on many products, this is probably a conservative estimate.

On Heinz bottles, the advice is to refrigerate after opening and then to use within eight weeks.

But that has not stopped some disregarding the advice – and even questioning the sanity of those who keep the condiment in their fridge.

In the past, some brands have lobbied for their products to be refrigerated when stocked in supermarkets, even when it was totally unnecessary, as a marketing exercise.

They feel that it boosted their product’s reputation for being fresh and healthy.

On the move to put ketchup in the fridge, Asda’s Victoria Williams said: ‘Tomato ketchup is a staple of many of our customers weekly shop but recent debate has prompted us to trial two areas to stock our great value own brand tomato ketchup sauces, so we can end the debate once and for all and give everyone what they want.’

The chain is stocking own-brand tomato ketchup in both refrigerated and room temperature areas in the Clapham store over the next week.