Tried and Tasted: Walkers Crisps
Recently snack giant Walkers announced a change in its crisp
production. In the spirit of these more health-aware times they have
reduced the sodium and cut saturated fat content by 70% compared to 2003
levels.
Though efforts have been made before to make crisps healthier through
advances in methods and following public pressure; this is probably the
biggest leap for some time.
We have tested the popular variety packs of the old style crisps, the
new Sunseed generation and the Lites! brand to see if the healthier
Walkers are still the leaders of the packs.
Conclusion
Walkers have succeeded in at least one of their goals: reduced sodium
and saturated fat levels with very little affect on flavour.
The winners here seem to have been salt & vinegar and, recently
promoted to the 'main' variety-pack, prawn cocktail.
Although the panel could not pick out which were the new style crisps
they could all identify, and would mostly avoid, the Lites brand.
Some dietitians warn that benefits of 'sunseed' oil may be lost during
the cooking process. Plus, although the fats are 'better' for you, there
is still quite a lot of fat in all these crisps. But, however small an
increase in how healthy these snacks are, if we consider their popularity
and market share it has to be a positive step for the nation's health.
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