Build a better ketchup bottle and the world will beat a path to your door...

[brooklynite]

co.Exist:

MIT’s Freaky Non-Stick Coating Keeps Ketchup Flowing

When it comes to those last globs of ketchup inevitably stuck to every bottle of Heinz, most people either violently shake the container in hopes of eking out another drop or two, or perform the "secret" trick: smacking the "57" logo on the bottle’s neck. But not MIT PhD candidate Dave Smith. He and a team of mechanical engineers and nano-technologists at the Varanasi Research Group have been held up in an MIT lab for the last two months addressing this common dining problem.

The result? LiquiGlide, a "super slippery" coating made up of nontoxic materials that can be applied to all sorts of food packaging--though ketchup and mayonnaise bottles might just be the substance’s first targets. Condiments may sound like a narrow focus for a group of MIT engineers, but not when you consider the impact it could have on food waste and the packaging industry. "It’s funny: Everyone is always like, 'Why bottles? What’s the big deal?' But then you tell them the market for bottles--just the sauces alone is a $17 billion market," Smith says. "And if all those bottles had our coating, we estimate that we could save about one million tons of food from being thrown out every year."

[dipsydoodle]

1. The secret

is to hit the bottom of the bottle whatever : not the side.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. Just screw the top back on tightly and stand the bottle upside down. Leave

for a while and all the ketchup will be right there in the neck.

[yellowcanine]

8. Yes but open carefully then. Lack of attention will bring the regret of "ketchup hand."

The flip top with the little hole works best. Old fashioned screw top - not so much.

[Voice for Peace]

3. no thanks

I remember when plastic was nontoxic.
I remember when a lot of stuff was nontoxic.
I don't mind leaving a little ketchup or mayonnaise in the jar.

[rhett o rick]

16. i vote no thanks also. Tell me in 20 years that its not toxic. nm

[Poll_Blind]

4. Did they say whether this stuff was for external use only?

PB

[jeff47]

9. It's extremely hydrophobic

I don't think you want to use it for that.

[central scrutinizer]

5. If the bottle is plastic

when you get to the very end cut it in half with kitchen scissors or a knife and use a flexible spatula to get out the last little bit. If it is glass, add a little water, shake it up and then most of it will pour out.

[canoeist52]

6. Stand next to your table,

hold the bottle upside-down in one hand and proceed to whirl your arm like a windmill. Centrifugal force -what could go wrong?

[SidDithers]

7. Yup. Just make sure the lid is on tight...nt

Sid

[LeftinOH]

10. Solution: Start using grown-up condiments instead of ketchup.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

11. yeah...cause nothing else acts like ketchup in a bottle... n/t

[Thav]

12. I use FANCY ketchup now, thank you very much.

Complete with top hat and monocle. I eat my fries with a little fork, WITH MY PINKIE UP.

Harrump harrump and other similar noises.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

14. only Grey Poupon works for snobs like this :-) n/t

[4th law of robotics]

13. Like what? Catsup?

[pinboy3niner]

15. What, and give up the anticipation? ...

[rhett o rick]

17. I make my own catsup. In fact I just finished. It is very easy.

I keep it in an 8 oz glass jar (reused salsa jar). It taste twice as good as Heinz, inexpensive and I store it in glass.

[Scuba]

18. Why would ketchup makers want this?

If there were only one, it would never make the market (wasted ketchup means more ketchup sales).