We’re talking about the taint of tomatoes, the orange-red smears that cloud plastic containers and soak into spatulas. If you lie awake at night worrying that your plasticware isn’t pristine, take heart. A new generation of products promises to erase your cares along with the chili crud.

Cascade’s Plastic Booster pledges to remove existing stains from containers. The active ingredient is benzoyl peroxide, which works as a mild bleach (it’s found in some acne creams, too). Tupperware endorses the paste, which costs about $3 for a 6.8-ounce tube and promises to clean your dishwasher, too. This fall Rubbermaid is introducing Stain Shield, a line of plastic containers that resist discoloration from tomatoes.

They cost $2.69 to $8.49, a lower price than an older line of polycarbonate containers that also promise to repel stains. But the stain shield only extends so far, a brochure warns. If you reheat curry with turmeric in the container, you’ll wind up with yellow goop soaked into the plastic. In an unscientific home test, both products performed as promised when label directions were followed.

 A number of other manufacturers sell silicone spatulas and kitchen tools that resist discoloring or are so brightly colored themselves that stains won’t show. Why all the fuss about container cosmetics? If you tote the same stained plastic container to work day after day, you should know that there are people who wouldn’t dream of such a thing. Housekeeping guru Heloise, who writes a syndicated column in 500 newspapers, hears from them regularly.

 She collects cleaning tips that range from using whitening toothpastes to a paste of hydrogen peroxide and baking soda. Perhaps the best way to prevent stains, she says, is to use nonstick cooking spray in a container before filling it with spaghetti sauce or to line it first with plastic wrap or a freezer bag.

Yet even Heloise admits to having a few containers around that have seen their share of red sauce and have the markings to prove it. “With chili, I use the same containers and it just doesn’t bother me,” she says. “If I had company coming in or if I was taking it somewhere, it might.”