From J D WALTER
I was interested to read Alun Rees’s article about the life of pickled
onions (Forum, 23/30 December). About 10 years ago I asked a leading manufacturer
whether its bottled sauces would keep better if refrigerated. It said emphatically
that the natural preservatives in its products were adequate without refrigeration,
which may even cause curdling.
A few years later I noticed that these products said ‘Refrigerate after
opening’ on the labels. The ingredients list had not changed so I asked
the manufacturer why it was now giving such opposite advice. It gave me
a very muddled reply but assured me that the keeping properties of its products
without refrigeration had not changed.
So why the change of label? I was told that most consumers associated
‘freshness’ with the need to refrigerate but that I would not notice any
change in quality if I continued to store the products as I had done for
the past 20 years.
Maybe the answer to Rees’s question regarding a short life after opening
is that the consumer now associates short life with ‘freshness’. I can’t
imagine why any manufacturer would want its customers to throw perfectly
good food away, forcing them to buy more. For myself, if it looks, smells
and tastes good then I eat it.
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J. D. Walter Woking, Surrey
