Specifically, a bottle of barbecue sauce - do you really have to keep it refigerated after opening? Maybe just keep it in a cool place? Will it really go bad? Or is it just a recommendation?
My family has always left butter out in a covered container year-round and we’ve never had a problem, and it’s not that we either eat it that fast or that we live in Alaska, so I’m thinking some BBQ sauce isn’t going to go bad any time soon.
I leave it to the Teeming Millions to advise me. 
Esprix
You probably aren’t in too much danger with things like barbecue sauce, ketchup, mustard as they are somewhat acidic from the vinegar and aren’t the best hosts for bacteria. That said…
YMMV, caveat emptor, if you end up pushin’ up the daisies don’t come crying to me or the management of SDMB.
Butter is a different matter. The danger is the cat will lick it. The issue isn’t kitty saliva enzyme cooties but that the dog sheds. Dog’s hair gets on the butter, cat licks it and croaks then you have a rotting, putrefied, maggot engorged cat carcass next to the butter. I don’t want that on my waffles.
My folks always left the butter in a covered dish in the cupboard and the fatality rate has been zero so far.
Apologies to Louie Anderson
One word: “Dimwitted liability and tort court decisions and the juries that make them.”
I’ve had ketchup ferment in the bottle - it may be too acidic for bacteria, but some yeasts and moulds can still live in it - many bottled sauces and relishes don’t contain preservatives anymore - they are aseptic as long as the seal is not broken (because they have been sealed in while they were too hot for anything to survive). Once they are opened, micri-organisms (not necessarily pathogenic ones) can get in and get to work.
Keeping it in the fridge doesn’t stop this in its tracks, but it does slow the process down considerably.
Whether or not sauces really require refrigeration after opening in your house will depend a great deal on your rate of use - if the bottle is used up in a few weeks, then there is unlikely to be a problem - if you leave it there for 18 months, there could be (although it still is only a possibility.
Another thought about barbecue sauces is that many of them have a lot of sugar in them. Sugar is a prime food source for bacteria and mold to thrive on!
I keep all mine in the fridge after I open them up… it is how I remind myself the container exists and is open elsewise it would end up way in the back of a cabinet merrily plotting world domination before I found it and went to use it again.
butter will go rancid faster at room temperature.
Barbecue sauces usually contain significant amounts of vinegar and (acidic) tomato products. Even if stored without the benefit of refrigeration, their spoilage rate is typically quite low.
Neither my honey nor my pancake syrup has ever developed mold or bacteria colonies, and I leave them in the cupboard after opening all the time.
And speaking of refrigerating foods or not, I have been told that the dreaded mayonaise does not really need to be refrigerated even after opening. And yet food poisoning is often related to mayo containing foods. What’s the really story on that?
Ditto with Hershey’s syrup.
dauerbach, my understanding is that unadulterated mayo will keep quite well at room temp, however, mayo with ‘stuff’ in it can spoil fairly easily.
It is my understanding that uncontaminated mayo can indeed be stored without refrigeration. However, when mixed with other foods (such as potatoes or macaroni), spoilage can result.
Here is a pdf with some refrigeration guidelines:
http://oregonstate.edu/extension/lane/food-preservation/docs/SP%2050%20677.PDF
Beaten to the punch by 4 minutes. :smack: See what I get for taking the time to look for a cite?
Honey and pancake syrup contain so much sugar that nasty things can’t live in it.
Sugar, acid and salt are all good preservatives if they are present in sufficient concentrations.
Whether any particular product, such as Esprix’s barbecue sauce, can survive for long outside the refrigerator depends on exactly how much of the preservatives are present.
Try it and see, Esprix. I keep mine in the fridge, but my mother doesn’t. I don’t think she’s had any spoilage problems in all the years that she’s been doing that.
One possible caveat to this is in the case of low sugar/low salt health or diet products. They really may need to be refrigerated.
[hijack]
For people wanting to leave butter out, check out this. I’ve used one of these for years, and it really does keep the butter both fresh and soft.
From what I’ve seen, butter will suffer if left out for days at a time, even covered. I know - I grew up with butter being left out, and my mother still does it. I can tell the difference in the taste. The above do-dad creates a water lock and keeps the butter fresh, even after many days.
I actually called the Hershey’s 800# a few years ago after I noticed “refrigerate after opening” on the label of a bottle of chocolate syrup I’d been keeping in the cupboard. I was told it was O.K. for short-term storage.
Heryshey’s Syrup will go bad if left unrefrigerated long enough: I have had this happen twice, in two different climates. It didn’t happen in the span of a few days, though.
Nothing like squeezing out the syrup and finding that’s all globby… and those globs are fuzzy… :eek: 
<< Food is good. >>
So no definitive answer, except caveat emptor. Hrm. Must go think on solution, while eating BBQ-covered fries. 
Esprix
robby, that link was very useful - thank you. (It says that condiments can be stored safely at room temperature, but you can allow the quality of the product to last longer if you refrigerate it). And Athena, were you referring to the “butter bell?” Looks neat!
Esprix
Butter we leave covered in the pantry, but I have a large household and we go through a stick a day. I know from experience that it can develop a musty flavor after 2 days. I also leave peanut butter in the pantry (I prefer it cold, but it’s too hard to spread), and I’ve known people to leave jams and jellies at room temperature as well. I once worked at a restaurant that left its opened ketchups and mustards out without refrigeration, and they were fine. So, given that most barbecue sauce is really just spicy ketchup, I would think it would be safe for at least a month. Is your condiment shelf that full that you can’t squeeze one more bottle in, or are you camping?
May I squeeze in a semi-related question? How long can you keep a half-jar of, say, marinara sauce in the fridge without it going bad? I try to use it within a week, but I rarely get the chance to. I use it more as a condiment than as actual pasta sauce.