Creating Healthful Salty Snacks

Creating Healthful Salty Snacks
December 1996 -- Cover Story

By: Lynn A. Kuntz
Editor

  Traditional snack foods appeal to consumers on a number of levels. They can be considered a treat or reward. They appeal to those who adhere to the "grazing" method of eating. Munching snacks straight out of a bag is quick and convenient. And snacks satisfy common cravings for salty, crunchy or fatty foods. The biggest problem is that many of these products, especially those that are fried, tend to be "nutritionally incorrect."

  Designing snack foods today can be complicated by the need to meet changing consumer tastes and expectations -- "good-for-you," shifting flavor preferences, etc. -- and the elusive search for something unique that also appeals to a wide variety of people. Most snacks today use some form of existing technology as the basis for creating products, but incorporate variations that increase the resulting product's health appeal by lowering fat and calories, enhancing flavor, or just switching to ingredients and formats that promote a positive image.

  While some in the snack industry hesitate to embrace the "healthy" snack food trend, it appears to be a force to be reckoned with, at least for the immediate future. According to the Snack Food Association's 1996 State-of-the-Industry Report, 1995 snack sales were generally sluggish, posting an actual decline in tonnage (-2.6%) and only a 0.4% increase in dollar sales. What may have kept the entire category 's head above water was the emerging market for no- and reduced-fat snacks, baked snacks, and other snacks that have differentiated themselves nutritionally from the standard fare.

One potato

  Potato chips are the most popular salty snack in the United States, holding about a 30% share of the market. They are also one of the oldest. Their discovery in 1853 is credited to George Crum, a chef at a hotel in Saratoga Springs, NY. According to the story, Cornelius Vanderbilt and his dinner party complained repeatedly about the thickness of their french fries. Crum responded by slicing the potatoes so thin that the oil penetrated completely and resulted in a crispy potato slice that his critical guests found very much to their liking. This remained a restaurant dish until after the turn of the century.

  The product that we recognize today as a potato chip is not far removed from this concept. However, lately the food industry has expended a great deal of effort to improve the nutritional profile.

  "In reality, by itself, the potato is a fairly nutritious food," says John Ojalla, associate professor of plant, soil and entomological science, University of Idaho. "It was the sustenance crop in Ireland, and the failure of the crop due to potato blight caused the Great Potato Famine."

  It's what follows that pushes the potato into the realm of the nutritionally incorrect. Traditional potato chips start with whole, raw potatoes sliced from between 0.035 to 0.070 inches thick. This cut can be straight and flat or may have a grooved or crinkle-cut surface. However, the cut surface must be smooth and the slice thickness must be uniform.

  These slices can be rinsed with water to remove starch and eliminate sticking, or they can be blanched to reduce the level of reducing sugars subject to browning before they reach the fryer.

  The most important parameters for a chipping potato include moisture, starch and sugar levels, as well as shape and defects. White-skinned cultivars have a round shape, high dry matter and low sugar content. The dry matter corresponds to the specific gravity. For a potato chip, the dry matter should be approximately 20% to 23%, giving a specific gravity of 1.080 to 1.095. Potatoes with a lower specific gravity require a longer fry time and absorb more oil.

  "Those that have a higher starch content as a rule have a higher dry matter content," says Ojalla. "About 80% to 85% of a potato is water, and that varies with variety. That leaves 15% to 20% dry matter and about 90% of that is carbohydrates, mainly starch. The biggest concern with the rest of that carbohydrate portion is reducing sugars. The sugar content may go as high as 10% of the dry matter, but for processors, it can be a concern when it goes above 2%."

  Whether the reducing sugar level reaches above this level, the Maillard reaction induced during frying results in unacceptably dark chips. In addition to using hot water to leach out reducing sugars, another technique used by processors is subjecting the tubers to a salt/acid bath. This prevents the glucose from reacting with the amino acid asparagine and reduces color formation.

  The potatoes are fried by one of two methods: batch, or "kettle" frying, or continuous frying. In a batch operation, the slices enter a fryer at one time -- often sliced directly into the fryer itself -- and are removed when the cook is completed. The resulting product typically has a higher fat level, more blistering and a harder surface due to the presence of starch on the surface.

  With a continuous fryer, the potato slices are continuously fed into the fryer, cooked as they are conveyed and removed at the end.

  After frying, before the product cools and the surface oil solidifies, the chips receive an application of salt and/or seasoning. Typical salt levels are from 1.5% to 2.5%, and the seasoning levels usually range from 4% to 8%.

  The resulting product has a fat content of around 35% to 40%, making it difficult for most people to categorize it as a healthy snack. Still, it's considered the gold standard, at least for potato chips, and it can be difficult to duplicate

  "I don't think the American icon represented by the potato chip will ever fade away," says Jerry Braun, director of marketing, Newly Weds Foods, Inc., Chicago. "It may evolve to include more products like Baked Lays. But I don't think they'll go away."

Some potato, corn, or...

  Some potato "chips" as well as other snack foods such as tortilla and corn chips, multigrain chips, and even extruded snacks, fall into a category that can be called "fabricated chips." Rather than using a single ingredient, like the potato slice, these use a mixture of ingredients and water. This forms a dough-like mass that is run through a forming or cooker extruder or sheeted and cut.

  With extruded or other puffed snacks, you have one advantage when reducing fat content. The spaces are filled with air. "This gives you a lot of crunch and a pretty big serving size," observes Braun.

  The formulation can be relatively simple, such as a corn masa for traditional tortilla chips or a more sophisticated blend of ingredients depending on the process and the finished product requirements.

  "Fabricated chips are much easier to put into a niche category," says Brian Frazee, project leader, Miles Willard Company, Idaho Falls, ID. "You aren't limited by raw material or process equipment like you are with a potato slice. If a particular formulation doesn't work out as a sheeted product it may make an acceptable extruded product."

  Depending on the type of product and process, the fat used in the formulation is fairly low. The fat, along with appropriate emulsifiers, acts mainly as a processing aid, reducing or increasing stickiness based on the exact formulation. It also can affect the texture of the finished product. If the fat level in the chip formulation was too high, it would negatively affect the texture by suppressing the expansion.

  "If you are having trouble processing, fat may serve as a tool," says Frazee. "You may need to add fat to the formula, especially in a direct-extruded product where there may be a handling issue. But if you go to a big cooker/extruder, you generally would have an easier time with the lower-fat formulations."

  One of the easiest and least expensive methods of creating a snack is a direct extrusion process where the dough is merely being formed. This results in a piece that is either dried to form a snack pellet or half-product for later processing or is immediately subjected to heat, usually by frying, to expand the structure. A sheeted product is typically more difficult to run. It requires stricter operating parameters for things like sheet thickness -- the sheet is so thin it doesn't leave much of a margin for error.

  The main functional ingredient in these products is starch. In general, the more starch, the more a snack will expand. The expansion occurs as the starch granules swell during gelatinization as heat is applied through frying or extrusion. Starch can be added separately or come from the ingredients used. Most fabricated snacks use potato or corn, but according to Frazee, "any starch-bearing ingredient can be used -- peas, beans, rice grains. The important thing is that the ingredient be characterized. Whether the starch is raw or pre-gelled, screen analysis and other information."

  The majority of ingredients need to be functional in nature. In addition, the texture is directly related to the moisture content. The higher the moisture with a given starch level, the more expansion or bubbling.

  "The expansion of these products has a direct bearing on the texture and eating qualities like melt-away," notes Frazee. "We use an expansion ratio as a day-to-day quality measurement.

  "A regular potato chip is going to have about 35% to 40% fat, but most of the fried fabricated products will be in the 20% to 34% range," he says. "Without frying, you can go down to virtually no fat, but the result is so dry and lacking in lubricity that no one would want to eat it. Practically speaking, with a non-fried product, it starts to be difficult to make a product with under 5% fat."

  But these types of snacks can go beyond the usual cheese curls, tortilla chips and potato crisps. Liz Morris, manager, research and product development, Baltimore Spice, Inc., Owings Mills, MD, notes the emergence of pasta snacks in Europe.

  "We've been working with Italian noodle shapes," says Morris. "The texture is different than you would see with a cheese curl, more crunchy, not as puffed. The flavors tend to be more unique than you normally see with potato chips. The pasta snacks don't automatically go to barbecue or sour cream and onion. We've been working with flavors like tomato and basil."

Fried Guys

  The biggest perceived health negative with traditional potato chips, as well as other fried snacks, is their high fat content. Frying adds oil to any product, but food designers have found a number of ways to influence the level, as well as the type, in the finished product. First a look at the process.

  Frying serves as the medium of heat exchange, or cooking. During frying, the water is driven out of the chip as steam and the chip picks up oil as its replacement. The heat of this process gelatinizes any starch in the chip and also affects other structural components that may be present, including reactions such as protein denaturation or forming films with gums. The heat also induces Maillard browning and its associated flavors and color.

  With time and exposure to heat, the oil itself changes due to chemical reactions, most notably oxidation and hydrolysis. A slightly oxidized flavor can actually create a positive flavor note in fried snacks. However, heat, light and "contamination" speed these degradive reactions to the point where the product becomes unacceptable. Therefore, oil stability becomes extremely important in fried snacks.

  Finally, the surface oil left on a chip has several additional functions. It contributes to the appearance of the final chip by providing the desired level of gloss. It acts as an adhesive for salt and seasoning blends. And it greatly affects the mouthfeel and flavor release of the finished product.

  The fat content and its inflated caloric load create a number of problems for the health-conscious consumer. It also creates a number of areas to address to improve the nutritional profile. These include: frying media; fat level; and altematives to frying.

Fat of the plan

  A number of factors affect the selection of a particular fat for frying snack foods. Each type of oil exhibits specific characteristics, including flavor, stability, melt point and consumer acceptability in terms of health benefits.

  One of the most important factors is stability, especially to oxidation. High-temperature frying accelerates the breakdown of fat, and the Ionger it is subjected to high temperatures, the more degradation occurs. In addition to oxidation, frying promotes polymerization and the formation of peroxides and ketones. All these components have a negative effect -- they contribute to off flavors. increase color development, and negatively affect frying efficiencies by increasing the viscosity of the oil. Some of these compounds change the surface tension of the oil, and this can increase the amount of fat absorbed during frying. In addition, some of the products of fat degradation have been linked to health problems, including cancer.

  The stability of a particular fat depends to a great extent on its level of saturation. Highly saturated fats have been linked to increased risk of heart disease, although recent studies attribute the negative effects only to certain saturated fatty acids. Still, high levels of saturates are considered unhealthy, prompting a switch to less saturated vegetable oils such as canola in many foods, including snacks.

  But more unsaturation means less stability, so many oils used in frying are hydrogenated to increase stability. This, however, leads to the creation of trans fatty acids. These too are now being connected to an increased risk of atherosclerosis.

  Because of these negative health links, those who manufacture fried snacks are looking at alternatives to hydrogenated fats. These include moving back to oils that have sufficient levels of saturates, without using hydrogenation. This includes oils such as cottonseed oil, a vegetable oil with a naturally higher level of saturates than oils like canola or soy. Another alternative is the genetically engineered (both through traditional cross-breeding and transgenic techniques) high-stability oils such as a low-linolenic soybean, high-oleic/low-linolenic canola oil, high oleic corn oil and high-lauric canola. We took a look at many of the fat alternatives currently available in the "New Age Fats and Oils" cover story in the November 1996 issue of Food Product Design.

  While it is also technically possible to engineer a reduced-calorie fat such as salatrim, currently no one has a commercial version suitable for frying.

  The degree of saturation has another important effect on fried snacks -- it influences the melt point. A shortening, or fat that is solid at room temperature, creates a translucent, hazy appearance on the finished product. An oil that is liquid at room temperature looks glossy and transparent. The desired appearance may be a matter of taste, or it may be influenced by other considerations, such as whether a liquid oil will transfer to packaging.

  Also, with traditional fried snacks, the frying fat adheres the seasoning to the product. Therefore, the fat should be solid at room temperature for the best effect. Seasoning applied to a surface of liquid oil tends to slide off the surface of the chip and form clumps.

Olestra option

  While many options exist in terms of different fats with different health connotations, a product designer who wants to create a fried chip without any fat has only one option -- olestra.

  The FDA has granted approval for the use of olestra only in savory snacks. Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble also is looking for approval in Canada and the United Kingdom for this ingredient. While this means that it can be used in both fried and baked savory snacks (including snack crackers, according to P&G spokesperson, Jacqui d'Eon), its most significant short-term role will be as a frying medium. Why? Not only is olestra a zero-calorie fat substitute, it is the only food ingredient other than fat that can actually be used to fry foods. Therefore it creates the same effects on the finished product as real fat -- high temperature gelatinization and textural changes, as well as flavor and color development. While no one has come right out and called producing olestra-fried chips the development equivalent of falling off of a log, it certainly simplifies the actual development of a full-fat clone.

  Olestra is made by converting conventional fats and oils to fatty acid methyl esters that are reacted with sucrose via interesterification to form a sucrose polyester. The molecule contains six to eight fatty acids as opposed to the three found on a regular triglyceride molecule.

  The fatty acids can come from just about any vegetable oil source, says Dave Seagram, business development manager for Olean. It is the source that influences the characteristics of the olestra. This includes properties such as melt point, stability to oxidation, and even flavor. The fluid viscosity would be greater than a fat of comparable fatty composition because of the larger size of the molecule. The melt point is slightly higher than that for standard frying fats -- 140°F -- to accommodate the required viscosity increase to slow its journey in the intestinal tract. The product has a 480°F smoke point and a 550°F flash point.

  "The higher melt point requires some heat tracing on the lines," notes Seagram. "Most frying fats would be liquid at room temperature. We always have to comply with the regulatory and functional box for the properties and specifications for olestra. But within these restrictions, we can modify the existing specifications."

  Seagram continues, "Today we have two types of olestra. One is derived from cottonseed oil and is primarily for potato chip applications. The other is from soybean oil, which would typically be used for frying tortilla products and for crackers. The characteristics of the oil carry over into the olestra, so a cottonseed olestra has a similar taste to a cottonseed triglyceride. Theoretically, if someone wanted a peanut oil olestra, that is technically feasible, but it would add complexity to our production. There would have to be enough volume to justify producing a third variety."

  P&G has begun test marketing an olestra version of Pringles in Columbus, OH. This product joins Plano, TX-based Frito-Lay's Max chips, which have been in test market in three cities since April. Frito-Lay and P&G are carefully tracking and analyzing any adverse reports from consumers who have eaten the product and are providing summaries to the FDA on a regular basis.

  "Although we are encouraged by the consumers' initial and favorable response, our test marketing is by no means complete, and there is certainly more to be learned," said Dennis Heard, Frito-Lay's senior vice president of technology and operations, in a statement released earlier this year. "Test markets are designed and conducted to discover the truth about what people think about a new product, and that's precisely what we are doing with our Max chips."

  Formulating chips with olestra may create no great technical challenges, but it may be quite different for the marketing department. The well-publicized "gastrointestinal distress" and potential for vitamin and carotenoid depletion may give both consumers and manufacturers pause. Additionally, many snack companies were looking to hop on the "better-for-you" bandwagon long before the FDA decided to approve olestra. One option was to reduce the fat content to make an appropriate label claim. The other was to develop a snack product that didn't require frying.

Less is better

  There are two general concepts to reducing the amount of oil in a fried chip. One is to reduce the amount of fat absorbed during frying. The other is to remove some of the oil after frying.

  One technique that effectively reduces the level of fat is to start out with a drier chip. This can be done by pre-drying the product before frying, or, with a fabricated snack, using a lower moisture product.

  "You can make minor changes in fat level by optimizing the frying process -- the temperatures and times that are optimum for a particular product," says Frazee. "Post-frying you have a couple of different options. There is the method you use to drain the oil off. There is some equipment that removes some of the fat with steam. There are even some patents out there that use solvents. But the problem with most of these methods, is that by the time you've put in all this equipment, there's not much profit margin."

  The ultimate no-fat process completely eliminates frying. This means baking or drying the product or using a cooker-extruder and in some cases, even air-popping. These methods produce a crunchy texture without using significant levels of fat.

  "Because extruded products contain such a high level of starch, and the structure is so open, you are able to create a crunchy product that is essentially fat-free," says Lynn Theiss, Newly Weds' vice president of R&D.

Pretzel logic

  Pretzels were the original baked snack, taking an extruded rope of dough, dipping it in a caustic bath to produce the characteristic dark sheen. Because the formulas contained low levels of fat, about 2% total, consumers began to consider them as healthful snacks, resulting in tremendous market growth over the last 5 or 6 years. According to the Snack Food Association, this growth has slowed considerably, but pretzels occupy the third position (after potato chips and tortilla chips) in total sales. Flavoring these snacks helped to spur some the initial growth, but now no-fat versions seem to have taken off.

  One pretzel manufacturer, The Bachman Company, Reading, PA, took the pretzel much further into the "good-for-you" category. The company created a vitamin- and mineral-fortified pretzel for children called Kidzels.

No fat blues

  Once the fat is reduced or removed from a product, several problems arise. In traditional fried snacks, fat provides a characteristic flavor, including fried notes. Added flavors can provide missing notes, but there is still a difference in the flavor perception because fat alters the flavor release and prolongs its intensity.

  Therefore, flavor systems developed for fried, high-fat snacks often will not work in reduced-fat applications. In addition, many snack food seasonings are associated with higher fat levels, especially dairy-based ones like cheese and sour cream.

  "There's a lot of emphasis being placed on the development of low-fat seasonings for snack items," says Morris. "Sometimes, with a seasoning for a pretzel, it may not be a high priority -- the consumer may already perceive that as a healthy product -- but there has certainly been a lot of activity in the area of seasoning low-fat and baked snacks. You've got to get flavor from somewhere if you're no longer getting it from fat, so using spices and seasoning can really help increase the acceptability."

  It's also difficult to get high levels of salt and seasoning to stick to products that don't have a surface film of fat after frying.

  "With regular potato chips, where the oil content is 36% to 38% by weight, you can get by with a reasonably coarse product" says Skip Niman, director, quality administration, Cargill Salt Division, Minneapolis. "That much oil gives you a lot of adhesion. If there is less liquid oil on the surface, the salt will tend to bounce off rather than sticking, so you need to use a finer salt, like a flour salt."

  Most systems developed for lower-fat snack applications use gums, starches or other humectant carbohydrates for adhesion. According to Morris, the seasoning level is comparable to that of fried snacks.

  "Most aqueous-based systems require a significant amount of drying," says Theiss. "The components just don't give up the water very easily."

  "The capital investment can be significant for equipment to dry most of them," adds Braun. "Not just from the equipment standpoint, but most plants don't even have a place to put it."

  If drying is a problem, minimizing the water content of the seasoning adhesive may help -- the less water in the system to begin with, the less drying is required.

  "You need a certain level of water to cover the geometry of the substrate," says Theiss. "That's not going to change too much. What's important is the relative effectiveness of the soluble component in terms of stickiness and its ability to release that water quickly after it's coated."

  In addition to tackiness and drying characteristics, other factors influence the design of these systems. Cost, flavor, mouthfeel and appearance of the finished product are important.

  "The oil on the surface of the product also gives it a sheen," says Florian Ward, director of research and development, TlC Gums, Inc., Belcamp, MD. "We use a system based on gum acacia and gum arabic combined with corn syrup solids or maltodextrins. The gum acacia is low viscosity and a very good film former. You spray a solution of the gums on at a leveI of one part for every 10 parts of finished product, so you end up with one- to two-percent gum solids."

  Some suppliers offer alternatives to a water-based adhesion system by using one designed for low levels of fat. They are made to be applied with conventional oil spray equipment and don't require redrying. But because they do depend on fat levels of up to nearly 10%, they would not be suitable for no-fat applications, only low- or reduced-fat snacks.

  Many people have equipment limitations; not just with drying, but also for hydrating the gums," says Ward. "We've found that adding low levels of oil helps to solve that problem, plus it improves the flavor. Some customers have other constraints -- for example, we've had some that have wanted all-natural ingredients, so we had to formulate without cellulose gum because it wasn't considered natural."

  Using gum-based adhesion systems can have other health-related benefits besides reducing the fat. Ward points out that many gums, such as gum acacia, are considered to be soluble fibers. Because gum acacia is a low-viscosity gum, a product could conceivably use 1% to 2%, depending on the product.

  "Gum acacia can act as an adhesive material for products like snack cakes and granola bars," says Ward.

  Some manufacturers have found limited success in using electrostatic adhesion systems. Here, an additive gives the seasoning blend a charge opposite to that of the chip. The seasoning is attracted to the surface of the chip and sticks on to it. However, with this method, it's difficult to maintain high levels of seasoning.

  Sometimes flavors can be added directly to the snack base. Internal flavors and seasonings can also help boost the flavor impact when a product contains topical seasonings. Once the intense topical flavor hit dissipates, they help to maintain flavor as a product is chewed. This is particularly important in a low-fat, starch-based fabricated product in order to give the snack base an acceptable background flavor.

  "Baked products present a lot of challenges when you take out the fat," says Ann Martin, technical sales and service manager, Quest International, Hoffmann Estates, IL. "For example, when you rely on all of your flavor coming from topical seasoning, flavor duration issues arise. The topical flavor hits you immediately, and then you experience the flavor from the base. Baked potato chips can give you somewhat of a raw potato flavor. Rice cakes give you that dry, flavorless mouthfeel. When formulating low- and no-fat snacks, it can help to work with other ingredients and use combinations of food ingredients as well as flavor technology. You need to look at the actual particle size of the flavors and their morphology -- how these factors influence how well the particles stick to the product and how they affect things like flavor release."

  Developing a flavor that withstands the high heat conditions encountered, especially in baked products, can be difficult, however. Many traditional snack flavors are not heat stable. High heat processes like baking remove most of the topnotes and reduce the flavor intensity. Sensory characteristics change.

  "You have problems when you are dealing with a low-fat, low-moisture snack product and you want to incorporate the flavor in the dough," says Morris. "It will flash off in the oven. Things like black pepper, garlic and sesame seed will survive those conditions, but not many flavors."

  Many of the carbohydrate ingredients used in snacks also give a masking effect, so the intensity and balance can change. Adding more flavor in an attempt to compensate raises flavor costs -- usually without achieving a flavor match.

  "I think that opposed to where we were 10 years ago, the industry has given us some vastly improved tools to use for these new snack products," says Morris. "It was much more difficult to duplicate things like the fried flavor in a baked product. We now have mouthfeel flavors that can help give you creamy and cheesy perception in the low-fat products."

  It may help to look outside of some of the traditional snack flavors, especially those that lean heavily on the influence of fat. Flavors like barbecue or salsa don't necessarily have an association with high levels of fat so its disappearance may be less noticeable.

  "In general, people are looking for stronger, more robust flavors, things that are spicy or even on the exotic side," says Newly Weds' Braun.

  "There are a number of different flavors emerging: the many barbecues, buffalo wings, spicy ethnic flavors," says Martin. "We are also seeing the blurring of lines between sweet and savory snacks -- the rice and popcom cakes are a good example of that, products using cinnamon sugar flavor, for example."

Salt and other enhancements

  Fat isn't the only ingredient in traditional salty snacks that keeps them off the typical health food list. They often have high levels of salt (sodium chloride) and many seasoned versions contain monosodium glutamate (MSG) or other ingredients containing glutamates. Excessive sodium intake has been linked to increased blood pressure in a certain proportion of the population, and MSG has gained a reputation, still unsubstantiated, as the culprit behind headaches and other symptoms of the "Chinese restaurant syndrome."

  The salt level in salty snacks averages between 1.5% to 2%. However, that level varies with the type of product, the flavor, regional preferences and other factors. The consumer demand for reduced-salt products doesn't appear to be overwhelming according to the Snack Food Association. Low-salt or unsalted potato chips comprise less than 2% of potato chip sales. Low- or no-salt popcorn, corn and tortilla chips also show unimpressive sales figures. There may be a slightly higher demand for no-salt pretzels, but that is probably due to their "healthy" connotation rather than any actual flavor preference.

  "A couple of studies were publicized in the past year in the British medical journals that said that consuming excess salt put one at higher risk of coronary disease, but it didn't make a big impression on consumers as far as I can tell,". says Niman. "It may be that they are tired of hearing conflicfing reports or that they realize that other things, like fat, have a greater effect."

  Potassium chloride can provide a salty taste, but it also tends to produce a bitter or metallic aftertaste. A blend, usually 50:50, of salt and potassium chloride minimizes these off flavors, but also increases the cost.

  MSG, hydrolyzed yeast, yeast extracts and the nucleotides provide umami or savory taste and are used to enhance other flavors or provide distinctive flavors on their own. Although the ingestion of glutamate has frequently been implicated in a number bf adverse reactions, it appears that consumers may not be as concerned as they once were or that these issues have been overshadowed by more pressing food-related concerns, particularly fat.

  The snack industry has come up with some innovative answers for the creation of more healthful snack altematives. As time goes by, the technical challenges will be overcome. But there's one more problem that arises, particularly as we strive to remove inexpensive ingredients like salt and fat. If they are replaced with more expensive ingredients (and processes), the cost of these products rise as compared to the original version.

  For those who think in terms of tonnage, you will actually be producing fewer pounds of a lower-fat product than if that same piece was soaked with a fairly high perqent of oil, even though they are being manufactured at the same numerical rate. On the upside, the consumer will get more pieces in an 8 oz. bag. On the downside, that bag will be bigger and require more packaging, which will increase unit costs. Ideally, the consumer will believe the improved health benefits are worth the cost.

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