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Snack chips are often criticized by dietitians for being too high in fat and sodium and for containing ingredients like partially hydrogenated vegetable oils and artificial colors. To investigate what snack food companies are doing to improve their products, we recently took a tour of the Frito-Lay plant in Killingly, CT.  It’s not every day you get to walk through a food manufacturing facility … nor is it every day you get to wear a hair net, ear plugs, and protective goggles (a hands-down Glamour Don’t though clearly a safety necessity)!

On the tour, we saw how potato chips and Smartfood Popcorn are made, and we got to eat them warm as they came off the production line (incredibly yummy, if we must say so ourselves). We were impressed by the fact that Frito-Lay has reduced the saturated fat in its chips by switching to sunflower oil and that all its chips are trans-fat free. They even have a line of products called Pinch of Salt featuring lower sodium versions of their most popular snacks (we blogged about this on July 7, 2008).

It’s nice to know you can enjoy chips without all the guilt when you need a little crunch with your lunch! As with all snacks, keep an eye on those portion sizes!

This entry was posted on Monday, October 6th, 2008 at 12:50 pm.
It is posted in Snack.