The Hot Pepper said:
If people took your advise they'd be eating cold ketchup and hot sauce. No!
Flavor-wise, I'm sure catsup and hot sauces "bloom" at room temp.
Food-safety-wise- follow manufacturer's suggestion.
Nothing wrong with bringing it up to temp before using by immersing the bottle in a bit of hot water, or using a heated plate for the food and splooging the sauce onto the plate where it will warm, or just letting the hot food warm it up, or put a bit in a ramekin and nuke it for 5 seconds.....
Heinz 57 catsup says "for best results, refrigerate after opening"
Tabasco Buffalo, La Victoria Red Taco Sauce, Helen's Tropical Exotics (from Florida) Island Heat do not say refrigerate.
To each there own, as long as folks understand there may be a risk in leaving some sauces out at room temp. Just having vinegar as an ingredient does not keep nasties from growing. Tabasco, catsup, Valentino's, HuyFong... most of those have survived the test of time being left un-refrigerated for years and most would consider them safe to leave out. But all the other new hot sauces, I wouldn't trust them out on the counter long term.
mecdave- I think there was a study done about 20 years ago about potato salad food poisoning at family picnics and they found it was the potatoes that would spoil, not the mayo. I also read a true story where a baked potato was left out on the counter after dinner, and the next day a teenage boy came home from school and ate the potato. He got deathly ill, was in the hospital for quite a while and ended up with severe brain damage. From a baked potato......
Anyway, room temp mayo grosses me out, too. I don't even like it on an egg-mcmuffin or grilled sammies. But that's a whole other topic~~~