How much Air is in Your Crisps?

How Much Air is in Your Bag of Crisps? We've all been there... you've bought your favourite crisps, excitedly opened the bag and... why so few in there? You feel cheated; the bag clearly looked like it contained more! So are the snack producers deliberately misleading consumers, or is there a valid reason for the addition of air? At a Glance... We took some of the UK's favourite crisp brands and measured the volume of an unopened bag compared to its contents to see just how much air was in each pack. % Air per Bag of Crisps 72% 59 55% 53% AIR AIR AIR AIR NEW 97 colories KET JAC MI CHI pope MC CHE bar CH LIGH SALT ORIG E 70g 53% 53% 52% AIR 50% AIR AIR AIR WALK N fren IN RIB'T UNMISTAK Cheese & VKEGAR 44* AIR 47% 38* 39% AIR AIR ROAST BEEF AIR Mar Tingli Dori WH CRU Tingly Prawn GRIE 30% AIR 28% 18% AIR AIR GRAB Bake Qua HUL Cheese soolp That's a massive variation of 54% added air amongst crisps! How Much Air Do Your Crisps Need? Our study showed huge differences amongst crisp packets when it comes to how much air is added, ranging from 18% to 72%. But is MORE or LESS air better for your crisps? % Air per Bag (grouped by producer) 60 40 20 КР WALKERS Of all the crisps opened, our testers thought Pop Chips had the most misleading bag size in relation to its contents. Average % Air Addition by Producer 42% 42% 72% 53% 55% KP WALKERS KEHE JACOBS p•pchps CHIPS The two biggest players in the UK snack market have the same average added air % by volume. Is this coincidence, or could this be the optimal amount? Why So Much Air? Crisp manufacturers claim air (Nitrogen) is added to protect the snack from going stale and from breaking up in transit. Кеep Snacks Fresh Protect Them in Transit Let's Test Those! Best Before The Drop Dates Test We noticed that most crisps We took the crisps with the had a BBD of most air in a bag (Pop Chips) and dropped both an inflated bag and a deflated bag from a height to see how many chips were broken as a result, 55 DAYS OR LESS HOWEVER... Pop Chips (which contained the most air) had around 290 days before the BBD CONCLUSION: TRUE popchps More air means the snack will stay fresher for longer. The Results? Inflated Bag Deflated Bag 4/14 3/14 ...chips were broken! CONCLUSION: FALSE Whether air is added or not, it actually makes little (or no) difference to protection. Conclusions It's safe to say that adding air keeps your crisps fresher for longer, but our tests suggest it doesn't add any further protection. However, excessive air DOES make the pack look like it contains more crisps, so perhaps a compromise is the best solution? 20% % Air per Pack 80% Approx. 40% seems to Crisps stay fresher for be around the industry longer with more air in average but crisps are the bag. unlikely to be at their best for much longer More air does not guarantee against broken crisps in than 2 months. transit. Bag appears to contain more crisps than it actually does. Finding the Sweet Spot 59% AIR 55% 53% 53% 53% 52% AIR 50% AIR AIR AIR AIR NEW KET CHI WALK N MEC SALT Cleese & RIBT These crisps had slightly higher than the average % of air added per bag, meaning they'd have a slightly longer shelf life whilst not appearing overfilled and being potentially misleading to consumers. Sources www.walkers.co.uk/faq/quality-control www.kpsnacks.com/responsible-busin kettlechips.eu/frequently-asked-questions/ess/environmental-responsibility Brought to you by: CDA Built for your life www.cda.eu NIK NAKS HULA HOOPS WHEAT CRUNCHIES SKIPS MCCOYS WALKERS WOTSITS SQUARES DORITOS QUAVERS FRENCH FRIES MONSTER MUNCH POP CHIPS sdyɔded MINI CHEDDARS KETTLE CHIPS CHIPS