November 1, 1998

24 Min Read
Salty Snack Sensations

Salty Snack Sensations
November 1998 -- Design Elements

By: James C. Burg
Technical Editor

  What makes salty snacks so popular? One reason: they're fun. Perhaps another is that snacking is the right way to eat - consuming smaller quantities of food throughout the day, rather than two or three larger meals. No one is suggesting salty snacks become meal replacers, but with more emphasis on caloric reduction, robust and tasty snacks can be designed to increase satiety, encouraging lighter grazing as a more natural approach to food consumption. But the obvious and primary reason for salty snack popularity is great taste.

With the proliferation of salty snack products, where does the designer seek new products? What's needed are products that contribute taste, taste, texture and oh, yes - taste. There's salt, at zero kcal/gram, but salt's complements happen to be fats and carbohydrates, plus protein. The standby spud and cereal grains work well in their roles. The fried flavor and crunch of salty potato chips and the light crunch and savory cheddar of a cheese curl are standards by which new products can fly or fall. Combining flavor, texture and satisfaction with a novel topping packs consumer appeal.

Novelty requires more than the flavor of the minute. Several new ingredients are becoming available for snacks. Let's take one product category as an example. Potato chips have counterparts appearing, such as the taro chip. Most familiar in Thai cuisine and in Hawaiian poi, taro can be made into shoestring fries that are crunchy and slightly chewy. Theoretically, any tuber or corm such as Mexican jicama could be a snack base, depending on technical feasibility of manufacturing the snack. Taro, for example, must be cooked to remove calcium oxalate crystals. Novelty, though, would introduce a new wrinkle into the chip. Novel products can combine new base ingredients like taro, plus, perhaps, other base ingredients, such as coconut meal, fruit or vegetable fibers and gums, with Polynesian and/or Southeast Asian fusion flavors, to create new snack textures, flavors and colors. One example is the blue corn chip, combining visual appeal with the nutritional appeal of antioxidant anthocyanin pigments. A potential snack product is fried sweet-potato strings. They have a rich brown flavor, a light sweetness and the bonus of golden-orange beta-carotene.

Dietary fibers, based on grain, vegetable and fruit components, can be an expansion area for formed snacks. In this role, they add fiber. Some, like Benefiber®, a partially hydrolyzed guar gum from Novartis Nutrition, Minneapolis, MN, are capable of reducing oil uptake and calories. The water-soluble dietary fiber can be formulated into many snack foods, and can assist in the extrusion of snack products. In addition to reducing serum lipids, this fiber ingredient stimulates beneficial bifidobacteria.

Grain, potato or other bases have numerous requirements for processing into acceptable products. Selection of the base for handling, forming, cooking and seasoning characteristics ensures manufacturing efficiency and finished-product quality. Quality of raw base materials is of prime importance.

Potato chips, for example, could be made from several varieties of tuber. For best manufacturing and quality, choices must be made for the grade of potato chip to be produced. "You must have a potato of high solids, mature, with no sugars," says Wilbur Gould, Ph.D., professor emeritus, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, and consultant, Snack Food Association, Alexandria, VA. "Sugars translocated from the plant to the potato must be converted to starches. If any sugars remain, you might have problems immediately, or you might have them later. We measure maturity by reducing sugars content, not by solids content."

Several factors influence fat level in the potato chip. "If the raw potato solids are below 20%, oil pickup in the chip will be higher," says Gould. "You want the solids level at 20% or higher. At 23% to 25% solids, the potato can be woody. If we slice thick, we get less oil. Thin slices pick up more oil. On average, chips are sliced at 0.060 in. Thick chips are sliced up to 0.075 in. At 0.050 in. thickness, oil pickup is greater. We control oil pickup by specific gravity (S.G.), then by chip thickness. Thirdly, we control oil levels with frying parameters. We use a high-temperature, short-dwell-time frying. Low temperature, longer dwell times will give you much more fat absorption."

Moisture in the finished potato chip is a critical factor for shelf life. "We fry chips down to at least 2.0% moisture," Gould explains. "Levels of 1.5% are better." S.G. and chip thickness determine frying time. Compare a potato chip at an average thickness of 0.060 in. at frying temperatures of 375°F and 325°F. At S.G. 1.065, it will fry to 1.5% moisture in 101 seconds at 375°F vs. 212 seconds at 325°F. At S.G. 1.105, the same chip thickness will fry to 1.5% moisture in 86 seconds at 375°F and 194 seconds at 325°F. Although frying times are reduced with higher S.G., thickness and temperature, finished quality determines the appropriate processing parameters. The chip must have the desired oil content and flavor, as well as desired color uniformity and lack of blisters.

One key to designing salty snacks lies in paying attention to the surfaces involved, both matrix and coating. Qualities needed include retention of toppings on the products, appearance and physical seasoning characteristics. Pretzels and most crackers have relatively smooth surfaces that don't accept seasonings well. Porous surfaces of extruded snacks or braided products, such as wheat biscuits, have more surface area to attract and hold seasonings. Retention of toppings delivers a balanced flavor sensation. Toppings deliver surface flavors overlying a bland matrix. For that reason, design attention involves types of seasonings, systems of adherence and coverage of topping. Testing helps ensure even coverage.

Salty tales

Sodium chloride (NaCl) is integral to the sensory profile design of salty snacks. Types and grades of salt have differing surface properties, and therefore, their effects on the savory profile vary.

Salt is prepared from natural sources, including deposits of underground salt left as evaporites of ancient seas, or as solar salt derived from ocean salt water. As sea water and deposited salts contain a number of mixed salts, plus mineral and mining residues, refining food-grade salt requires removal of soluble and insoluble impurities. NaCl delivers the most acceptable sensory effects, and so the crystalline cubes must have purity cubed. Food-grade salt must be at least 99.0% minimum NaCl, exclusive of additives, and minimum 97.5% NaCl with anticaking, antioxidant and crystal modifiers, according to Dave Strietelmeier, director, technical service, Morton International, Morton Salt, Chicago. Other salts found naturally in rock salt or ocean sources must be removed due to their effects on NaCl taste. Cationic calcium and magnesium, and anions other than chloride alter the taste, either by increasing or reducing the sodium chloride sensation, or by introducing bitter tastes.

Purified salt is crystallized for food use by several methods. Vacuum pan salt provides cubic crystals graded by size for different applications. They also can be rolled into flakes for better adhesion. Grainer, or Alberger(r), salt is a vacuum-evaporated product having step-sided, hollow pyramidal crystals of greater surface area than the regular cubes. The surface area and form, which also can be flaked, adhere well. Dendritic salt is a porous variation of the cubic crystal. Its crystal formation is inhibited with sodium ferrocyanide at 13 ppm. The crystals form as aggregates of attached cubes, providing a porous structure of large surface area and good adherence. Each of these crystal types has advantages for different snack applications.

For a topical seasoning, "you want density of the salt grade to be the same as other ingredients for blendability," says Skip Niman, director of quality administration, Cargill Foods, Salt Products, Minneapolis, MN. "Different bulk densities lead to stratification. Irregularly surfaced grainer salts are more readily blended with other ingredients than regular, vacuum pan-granulated salts."

Flowability is another salient characteristic for salt application. "Alberger salts come in a range of flow rates that make it easier to control application of the salt to the products," Niman notes. The depth of product on the line coming from the fryer helps determine coverage. A deep bed can receive more salt on the top layers, requiring adjustment of chip-feed rates and depths.

Dry snacks with less than 30% to 35% oil content, like tortilla chips, work best with a grainer flour salt with greater than 125 sq. ft. specific surface area per pound. This type improves adherence and uniformity of distribution, and increases solubility rate compared to regular vacuum pan salt. Dendritic salt also gives good adherence.

"For coating extruded snacks, a cheese flavor and salt suspension in oil can be prepared in a ribbon blender for spray application," Niman says. "Micropulverized salt provides a good suspension for use on cheese puffs. Potato chips and high-fat snacks, in general, work better with dendritic and grainer salts to overcome enrobing of the salt by the fat, affecting taste."

Crackers and pretzels require large platelet-shaped particles with slow dissolution rates. "Application of the platelets to pretzels requires a gentle fall in a vertical position, so that the particle is embedded in the dough," Strietelmeier says. "Particles can be abraded during baking without adequate adherence." For thin pretzels, a smaller flake size improves adherence.

Pretzels are extruded and formed, followed by a dip in 6% sodium hydroxide solution. This partially hydrolyzes the starches and proteins, providing a glossy finish and improved Maillard browning during baking. The sticky surface also allows adhesion of the salt. Pretzels are usually coated with rock pretzel or coarse-flake salt for visual and taste appeal. Salt crystals on the dough surface of baked snacks raise the heat capacity, according to Strietelmeier. "The higher local heat causes a weak spot." The lower solubility rate of these flake grades reduces the problem for thin pretzels. "Granular salt on crackers dissolves in the dough before the product is dry, causing blisters," he says.

Crackers benefit from topping flakes or coarse topping flakes before baking. The option for surface-oiled crackers is salting after baking, for which dendritic salts or fine flakes work well. The greater adherence of these forms is necessary due to the smoother, less adherent cracker surface.

Application of salt is a critical phase. Without adequate adherence, salt ends up in the applicator recycle or in the package. Lacking even coverage on the product, the uniformity of flavor is lost. Product quality and costs demand a determination of the best system of application to be successful. Fine salt particles have large surface areas and low bulk densities, which allow for more even application.

The expression of the saltiness, and therefore the entire profile of the salty snack, is due to salt's particle size, shape and availability on the snack surface. Oil or other coatings can limit its availability, reducing its sensory impact. Taste expression requires the salt dissolve at a desired rate. Small particles dissolve quickly, giving an immediate response that seems relatively intense. Salty taste from small particles also disappears quickly, depending on the amount present and available. Larger particles, such as rock salt, provide a sharp taste that lasts longer because of its slower dissolution rate. Total surface area of the salt particle is therefore a primary selection criterion for a snack.

Salt use at 1.5% to 1.7% can be adequate to deliver the right saltiness, due to an inflection curve for salty taste occurring at that range. Adding additional salt in the plateau region between 1.5% and 2.5% adds very little to the intensity of taste. However, between 1.5% and 1.7%, where the curve is ascending, small differences in concentration can make a larger difference in saltiness. Salt is often added at 2.0% to assist in covering off-flavors forming in the snacks in storage.

Harmony and balance

In addition to the salinity and bite of salt, its ability to alter other tastes and flavors is of maximum benefit. Salt modifies and rounds out flavors at low cost. Salt has a light sweetness at low levels, as specific taste buds might respond to the four basic tastes to some extent.

Another possible explanation is that sweet taste buds might respond to the hydrated molecular configuration developed on the sodium chloride ion pair. Salt also can enhance sweetness at relatively low levels. For instance, optimizing a barbecue-flavored potato chip with salt and a small amount of sugar can make the flavor come alive. Salt also can modify tartness and bitterness to a certain extent by masking those tastes. One reason salt might modify other tastes is its rapid stimulation of salt taste buds. Salt taste is perceived in about 0.3 seconds, while sweetness taste occurs at about 0.45 seconds. Tartness is perceived at about 0.54 seconds and bitterness occurs latest around 1.08 seconds after tasting.

Salt enhances flavor, an important property for snacks, particularly reduced-fat products where the seasoning expression is diminished without adequate fat. Flavors are somewhat more lively and more balanced by the salt, and have reduced tendency to fade with storage time. Salt's ability to modulate and balance flavors can be fine-tuned for maximum expression by the designer. Levels of salt are generally more effective when they enhance the flavor profile to its optimum level, without saltiness or other notes dominating the composition. Unless salt or another component is to be the main character of a snack, a well-rounded profile having indefinable elements often is the best design. Such a product is interesting, and invites continued sampling as well as repeat purchasing. "You need balance between a lower dough-salt level of 1.5% to 2.0% on a flour weight basis and the toppings," says Wulf Doerry, director, cereal technology, American Institute of Baking, Manhattan, KS. "Then you add topping salt for quick taste, interest and effect on cracker flavors. You must not saturate the product with seasonings."

Reduced levels of salt in foods have been considered for the last two decades. The brain can adapt to lower levels of consumed salt, becoming more sensitive to salty taste to a certain extent. However, products with too little salt can taste flat and dissatisfying. Acidity can increase saltiness, where the application allows, allowing reduced salt levels.

Salt substitutes can reduce sodium in the diet, although this is not currently much in practice. Salts containing mixtures of 50% NaCl/50% potassium chloride are useful in reduced-sodium products, though the bitterness of this blend can limit its application. Sweeteners, organic acids such as glutamic acid, and sweet spices with no bitter notes can be used to improve the taste profile of the salt blend. Simply reducing the potassium-to-sodium ratio can help. Balancing flavors is not as effective with these blends.

Flavor pro-fusion

Flavor drives new product design like no other ingredient. Flavors have left the ranch, and there's a herd of new applications coming. Everything from German potato salad to Coney dog snack flavors are available. Cross-cultural cuisines like Caribbean/chili bean are hot. "What we do with fusion flavors is adjust them for American taste profiles," says René Aler, business development manager, new applications, Quest International, Hoffman Estates, IL.

Nuances of seasonings can be developed that introduce the customer to unfamiliar, yet exciting, experiences. Advances in improving the profiles of low-fat products and low-calorie products could potentially translate to new product successes.

Enhancers can be used to improve flavor expression. "Label friendly" is the buzz term, so that monosodium glutamate, while an excellent taste enhancer, may conjure up negative connotations with some consumers. Yeast extracts, disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate can be used for their savory, salty enhancing effects. There are additional ingredients that can be included under a WONF declaration to provide a unique new tweak to your design.

Botanical extracts can be used with dry or slurry seasonings to provide interesting accents. Botanicals also provide other benefits. Rosemary extract acts as an antioxidant at levels from 300 ppm to 500 ppm, without adding much flavor. At levels of 500 ppm and more, the flavor becomes more apparent. However, in a savory product with herbal flavorings, rosemary could be a subtle part of the profile. Even when combined with incompatible flavors like cheeses, it can be used at subthreshold levels to boost a savory note. This use of nuance is the type of situation expedited by an experienced flavorist.

Other examples of natural compounds that can be employed include sweetness enhancers like maltol. Maltol can improve savory profiles. It enhances and modifies flavors, producing balance and adding new definition to a product. It can also add mouthfeel, which could improve low-fat flavor profiles. It increases creaminess and dairy notes. Maltol also can reduce bitterness, making this compound and mixtures with ethyl maltol and other flavor compounds useful in designing signature products that keep consumers wanting more.
The same surface principles apply to seasonings and flavors as to salt. The difference is the greater sensitivity of flavors to loss of character prior to consumption. Flavors deteriorate due to the large surface area of salty snacks, which expose flavors to oxygen and ultraviolet rays unless protected. High moisture levels in a salty snack, greater than 2.0%, can contribute to oxidative change in flavors.

One way of protecting flavors is to use encapsulated flavors. These need to protect against moisture, air and volatilization. They also need to release their aromatic compounds during consumption.

Three main techniques can be used to apply topical flavors, explains Eric Johnson, director of research, The Edlong Corporation, Elk Grove Village, IL. Liquid oil-soluble flavors can be incorporated into an oil. Then apply the flavored oil to the snacks in a tumbler or spray the flavors, or combine the two methods. Slurry powder flavors with an oil, and spray or tumble on the snacks. A dry flavor can be shaken or tumbled onto the snacks. This method works best with snacks having an oily surface for adherence. When the surface isn't oily, oil or other adherent sprays improve flavor coverage. Overall, slurries tend to deliver the most evenly distributed coating.
Liquid water-soluble flavors generally don't work well topically, but can be applied as a diluted spray or in a tumbler.

Topical application doesn't offer much protection. If the snack requires further heating or drying after flavor application, the flavor will leave the product to some extent, even completely.

Microwave popcorn flavors are usually incorporated into hydrogenated fat. This remains solid in the bag until microwaving.

Two inherent problems exist with microwave flavors. First, the flavor must be heat-stable enough to maintain its profile at what are essentially frying temperatures. Second, the flavoring material must not burn or discolor at the same temperatures. Powders and pastes might be prone to this problem. They might not taste burned, but are visually unappealing. Oil-soluble liquids generally deliver good flavor without color or burning problems, but the volatile components might leave the product. Microwave flavors usually contain large amounts of volatile compounds to cover expected loss. This provides the butter aroma detected from microwave popcorn rooms away as the product pops in the microwave. Cheese flavors are more difficult, as the aromas developing from microwave are considered undesirable.

Internal reflections

Topical is typical with salty snacks, but adding flavors to the cracker, pretzel or extrusion-expanded dough allows expression of in-depth taste. Salt, being soluble in the dough, helps to enhance the matrix profile.

Flavors need to withstand baking or extrusion temperatures, releasing on consumption. The proteins and starches in baked snacks can be flavor sinks.

Encapsulated flavors are one approach to improved flavor delivery. Flavor-encapsulating ingredients include various modified starches, maltodextrin and sugar blends, in which the modified starches act as emulsifiers during the encapsulation process. Spray-dried encapsulated flavors with these blends are efficient - on the order of 90% to 95% flavor delivery. Extruded flavors might be somewhat less efficient.

Fat-enrobed flavors can utilize the heat of baking or extrusion to release the flavors. The melting time/temperature is critical with such products for optimum results. Whey protein concentrate-encapsulated flavors are very stable to oxidation and heat. Many types of gum-encapsulated flavors have been developed for food applications. The encapsulant materials must all be capable of withstanding matrix and processing conditions, yet releasing the flavors on dissolution during consumption.

When incorporating flavoring into a snack product, there are three modes of getting the flavor into the system, based on the affinity of the flavor, according to Johnson. Liquid oil-soluble flavor can be incorporated into the fat or mixed into the dry portion of the snack's raw materials. The designer can mix powder flavors into the dries, disperse them in the oil or shortening or solubilize it in the water. Water-soluble flavor can be plated onto the dries or added to the water.

Each of these techniques affects a flavor's performance, especially when the product is baked or fried. Finding the best technique is a case-by-case determination that can only be decided by trial and error, Johnson says. In general, though, incorporating the flavor into the oil portion of the snack base will deliver the best performance.

Taste in place

Adherence of seasonings to snacks requires compounds that hold the seasonings and allow good sensory expression. Generally, the carriers for fried goods are oils. These supply part of the flavor profile, while providing good release of flavors during consumption. Oil selection depends on the product. Most flavor in a potato chip comes from proteins and carbohydrates interacting with the oils. Sunflower and canola oils are mild in flavor, while peanut and corn oils add their light characterizing notes. These add interest to a chip in the absence of off-notes. Another factor in choice of oils is the solid fat index (SFI), or the percentage of solid fat at a given temperature. High SFI fats at body temperature give a waxy impression. A fairly low SFI looks greasy at room temperatures.

An excellent group of oils now available is based on conventionally bred strains of sunflowers and canola, which have 62% and 66% monounsaturated oleic acid, respectively. Higher oleic-acid levels have been developed to 80%. These first two oils have 9% and 6% saturated fat, respectively. Their mid-level essential linoleic acid contents are 26% and 21%, respectively, which is claimed to enhance flavor. The sunflower oil has very low linolenic oil, providing extended shelf life. The sunflower oil is well-suited for frying operations - on par with cottonseed oil.

The best fats are those that are most stable under the frying conditions, often 356°F to 374°F (180°C to 190°C). Often, frying fats are partially hydrogenated to reduce the linolenic acid levels for stability against oxidation. For snack-frying purposes, these refined fats have melting points of 95°F to 113°F (35°C to 45°C). Antioxidant addition is a good practice, as is using citric acid to chelate catalytic metals like copper and iron to prevent rancidity and bitter notes from developing in the frying oil.

Fats affect the flavors of fried products. In potato chips, for example, the raw, sliced product starts out at about 0.1% oil. After frying, the oil content could be as high as 40.0% or more. As frying proceeds, the oil wets the surfaces of the chip as steam escapes from the potato. This wetting is enhanced by free fatty acids acting as emulsifiers in the oil. The flavor quality is determined by absorbed fat, the oxidized, polymerized compounds and Maillard compounds formed, the temperature of frying, and the residence time in the bath. Optimum frying conditions for each product type need determination by sensory evaluation.

Frying oil must be maintained in good condition for best product quality. Regular filtration, treatment to remove fatty acids and changing of the fryer oil needs attention. Testing of free fatty acids and peroxides determines when oil needs to be changed.
"Oils need some protection," says Srini Vasan, Ph.D., food technologist, Cultor Food Science, Ardsley, NY. "Salty snacks have a large surface area coated with oil, and salt acts as a pro-oxidant. These factors make salty snacks candidates for antioxidants. Our rosemary extract is derived with supercritical carbon dioxide extraction, allowing precise removal of unwanted components. You can minimize the loss of phenolics sensitive to oxidation during the process with no toxic residues in the extract.

"Rosemary contains interesting phenolic compounds, the main one being carnosic acid," Vasan says. "This compound, carnosol and methoxy-carnosic acid together represent more than 90% of the phenolics. These compounds are primary antioxidants, which react directly with lipid-derived and other free radicals, reducing peroxide formation. Their mechanism of action is similar to synthetics like BHA, BHT, TBHQ, etc."
Rosemary extract, while relatively stable in stored oil, is lost in frying along with other antioxidants. The extract can be dispersed in the seasoning blend for toppings.

Oil changes

"Salatrim is an acronym for short-chain acetic and/or propionic and/or butyric acids and long-chain acyl triglyceride molecules," says Julian Stowell, Ph.D., business director, specialty fats, Cultor Food Science. "Benefat(tm) is a salatrim-based family of reduced-calorie triglycerides, having just 5 kcal/gram, instead of the 9 kcal/gram for traditional oils and fats."

The primary focus for salatrim has been confectionery and baked goods. To date, no savory snacks have been commercially launched based on the product. One reason is that salatrim is suitable for vacuum-frying, rather than high-temperature frying, due to its low smoke point.

A shortening version of Benefat is currently under evaluation for possible application in savory snacks. Salatrim also lends itself to spray-oil applications, where it can act as a carrier for seasonings, according to Stowell.

Other options in the low-fat snack area include medium-chain triglycerides, fats based on lower-molecular-weight fatty acids esterified with glycerol. These oils are lower in calories than regular long-chain hydrogenated fats at about 8.3 kcal/gram. They are good flavor carriers, with very good stability, indicating longer shelf life. They are stable even at frying temperatures.

Other recent introductions are fat-like sucrose polyesters. The fat replacer allows frying of snacks in a medium that does not break down at normal frying temperatures. The ingredient, prepared from sugar and vegetable oil, is comprised of large molecules incapable of being digested by human digestive enzymes, and therefore provides no calories. The fatty character provides similar flavor and mouthfeel in snacks as other frying fats. This factor seems to reduce the amount of fat consumed, as additional fat was not desired in testing. Fat-soluble vitamins will be added to products containing the ingredient to compensate for losses.

Products that are not fried may use topical oil sprays as a carrier. However, fat declarations of less than 0.5 gram per serving must be met for low-fat snacks. Fat improves flavor release, as well as providing lubricity and adding to the eating quality. Liquid oils also provide sheen to products that would otherwise have a dry, unappetizing appearance.

For lower-fat and lower-calorie snacks, there are coatings based on food gums, starches, dextrins, sugars, whey protein concentrates and combinations. These water-based systems generally require a secondary drying step to remove moisture and prevent it from migrating into the product. These ingredients often are not as good for flavor release as oils, because they can hold volatile compounds or part of the compounds, so that that flavor is weaker or less balanced. Small amounts of oil can increase the release, while maintaining low-fat declarations.

In low-fat products, addition of fatty flavors and fried or baked flavors can improve the profile. Added Maillard process flavors can improve the flavor and color acceptance of baked, low-fat snacks. Reducing sugars and whey protein concentrates aid browning in baked snacks such as pretzels.

As fresh as it gets

As tasty as fresh products are rolling into the packaging systems, the challenge is to deliver that savoriness to the consumer opening the package. Raw-material quality is the first consideration. For potato chips, variety chosen determines quality through washing, peeling, cutting, frying, seasoning and packaging. Selecting the variety and contracting for uniformity of quality and supply ensures consistent processing efficacy and shelf life. Quality control of incoming material, and in-process and finished products sets the standard.

Additives, including seasonings, must have consistent performance characteristics. Levels and grades of salt meeting stringent size and particle conformations produce the best savory taste delivery, which is a critical control factor for snack manufacturers. Flavors must provide uniform profiles under established methods of application.
Oil oxidation is of prime concern, as flavors will be adversely affected. Clean will turn to stale and "cardboardy" very quickly. "Hexanal and other aldehydes will start to appear under oxidative conditions, with their stale notes," Strietelmeier says. Another level of protection employs the synthetic antioxidants BHA, BHT and TBHQ, which work well, but are less label-friendly than rosemary extract.

Packaging is the last line of defense for product performance, or perhaps the first. The best container systems are filled with nitrogen to exclude oxygen, as well as provide a stiffer package to reduce breakage. Vapor- and oxygen-barrier-coating packaging materials assist in reducing influx of water and air after sealing. Incorporating the opacity of metallized or other coatings excludes ultraviolet light.

Portable, palatable and pleasing to all, salty snacks are a North American staple. Talk of salt, fat and carbohydrates aside, the briny tide of consumer demand continues unabated. Designers have ample tastes to satisfy, and the fun is satisfying all those divergent tastes in creative ways.

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