What’s in a bite? - The journey of The Perfect Potato Chip (2024)

What’s in a bite? - The journey of The Perfect Potato Chip (1)

May 5, 2020

What’s in a bite? - The journey of The Perfect Potato Chip (2)

by Shayne De la Force

With retail shelves overflowing with potato chips to suit all tastes, now is the time to strive for perfection! Achieving the perfect bite is crucial to stand out from the competition and keep consumers coming back for more. But what does perfection look like for a potato chip and how can manufacturers reach these dizzying heights?

So, what is the perfect bite?

What’s in a bite? - The journey of The Perfect Potato Chip (3)Perfection comes in many forms – and this idea holds true for the popular potato chip. The perfect bite involves more than just the act of eating. It is a multi-sensory eating experience to ensure consumer satisfaction. It goes beyond taste to include texture, aroma and appearance of the end product – taking into account all the senses that come into play for that multi-sensory experience.

And although perfection is subjective, there are certain characteristics that define the perfect potato chip. Consumers enjoy fresh-tasting products, without any noticeable grease or oil. This is increasingly evident with the wave of health-conscious consumers looking for snacks that support their overall health and well-being, while still scoring on taste and texture. It is also the reason for widespread interest in lightly coloured potato chips, rather than browned. Consistently light-coloured products are often perceived as being healthier and more ‘natural’ – an important characteristic for today’s discerning consumer. Finally, with the latest trends for bold, strong flavours, people want evenly applied seasoning, to ensure full coverage and flavour dispersion – adding to the high-quality, premium effect.

7 steps for creating perfect potato chips

Whatever consumers interpretation of the perfect bite, the process to get there can be complex. Here are seven steps to achieve potato chip nirvana, according to our experts:

  1. Handling & preparation

Innovative pre-processing and processing techniques can help deliver the texture, appearance and quality that contribute to the perfect bite. Hot washing and pulsed electric field (PEF) technology, for example, are increasingly replacing blanching as the method of choice for reducing sugar levels in raw materials – helping to create a crispy, dry texture.

  1. Frying

The type of frying you choose can make or break consumer appeal. Whether it’s batch frying for the ‘glassy’ and hard texture associated with premium ‘kettle’-style chips, or an atmospheric continuous frying process for lighter, more aerated products, it’s a crucial part of the process.

  1. Seasoning & spraying

Don’t let uneven seasoning coverage and flavour dispersion deter consumers from enjoying the perfect bite. Using an on-machine seasoning (OMS) system, featuring responsive variable mass controls alongside a dynamic vibratory weigher, allows for accurate flavour and oil application.

  1. Distribution

There’s nothing worse than opening a packet of chips and finding they are crushed or broken. Investing in the right distribution system, such as horizontal motion conveyors, ensures fragile potato chip products are transported quickly, yet gently from one stage of the process to the next, with minimal breakages and flavour loss.

  1. Packaging

Keeping potato chips as fresh as possible is down to the quality and integrity of the packaging seal. Innovation in the type of jaws used in packaging equipment is making a huge difference to consumers’ enjoyment of end products.

  1. Weighing & metal detection

Today’s weighing equipment helps operators keep up to speed – literally – with packaging lines, with minimal product damage. Plus, advances in metal detection are eliminating the risk of contamination to make sure there aren’t any nasty surprises that could ruin consumers’ eating experience.

  1. Controls & integration

Product quality can really interfere with brand loyalty. Ensuring the right control system and integration solutions are in place is a reliable and efficient way to achieve greater levels of transparency, which can then be passed on to consumers.

Making perfection a reality

There are many factors for potato chip manufacturers to consider when it comes to achieving the perfect bite. In the same way that perfection is more than just taste or texture, working with the right partner is more than just food processing equipment; it is the access to trend insights that will keep consumers coming back for more, as well as the expert knowledge of every aspect of the production line to anticipate any issues and offer solutions. Ultimately, choosing the right supplier and investing in end-to-end solutions enables an initial idea to be transformed into a complete eating experience for consumers – whatever their interpretation of the perfect bite.

At tna, we provide the knowledge and expertise to help you choose the right end-to-end solutions to make achieving the perfect bite a reality. For more information contact: [emailprotected]

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FAQs

What are potato chip bags filled with? ›

So, What's the Gas In The Bag of Chips? The air in your bag of chips is a harmless gas called nitrogen. Nitrogen helps protect your food's color, flavor, odor, and structural integrity. Before your bag of chips was closed with chips inside, the bag was filled with nitrogen.

What is the process of making potato chips step by step? ›

How are chips made?
  1. Potato receiving, grading and sorting.
  2. Cleaning, washing and destoning.
  3. Peeling.
  4. Slicing and/or trimming.
  5. Frying (continuous or batch)
  6. Salting and seasoning.
  7. Cooling.
  8. Serving or packaging.

Why can't you eat just one potato chip? ›

Moreover, our biology and genetics are fundamentally mismatched with the composition of ultra-processed foods. While our built-in mechanisms should prevent overeating, these foods override those safeguards, creating a situation where consuming only one chip becomes exceedingly challenging.

What is the lady that only eats chips? ›

Zoe Sadler was diagnosed with Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID). A woman from England, who had been eating only potato chips sandwiches since 23 years, ate her first meal recently after she was hypnotised.

What do they inflate chip bags with? ›

The process of filling packages with nearly 100 percent nitrogen is called Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP). During MAP, nitrogen gas is repeatedly injected and removed from food packaging to eliminate oxygen. This process can reduce the oxygen content to 3% or less.

Why are potato chip bags so empty? ›

The empty space is intentional and helps protect the chips during its journey from the production plant to the store and then your home. This ensures that customers get as many full chips as possible and not a bag of crumbs, according to Joe Schwarcz, a chemistry professor at McGill University.

What is the unhealthiest potato chip? ›

Potato chips from brands known for excessive salt, saturated fats, and artificial additives tend to be less healthy. Examples include Lay's, Pringles, and Ruffles. Opting for baked or kettle-cooked chips and checking nutritional labels can help make a healthier choice.

Is it bad to eat a whole bag of potato chips? ›

You could impact your risk of getting cancer.

If you can just limit yourself to a small, snack-size bag of chips every once in a while (and not eat a full-size bag daily), then you'll be just fine. All about moderation, after all!

Why are chips so bad for you? ›

Potato chips feel great to eat because they're super light and airy but chips are actually packed with unhealthy ingredients like processed carbs and trans fats—not great for when you're trying to lose weight.

What state eats the most chips? ›

: "Detroiters eat an average of 7 lbs. of chips per year, as opposed to 4 lbs. in the rest of the country, and it takes 7 minutes for a potato chip to go from the bin to the bag!" , this particular stat isn't one to be proud of.

What happened to the guy who only ate McDonald's? ›

Morgan Spurlock in New York in 2017. Documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, an Oscar nominee whose most famous works skewered America's food industry and who notably ate only at McDonald's for a month to illustrate the dangers of a fast-food diet, has died. He was 53.

Who eats potato chips the most? ›

Figures show that about 28% of Chinese citizens consume potato chips. The percentage for South Africa is 43%. That's exactly half of the percentage for both the United States and France, where 86 percent of the population is said to consume potato chips. Great Britain is not far behind at 84%.

What gas do they fill chip bags with? ›

What is the secret that keeps potato chips fresh and crisp? If you guessed nitrogen, you are right. Nitrogen in chip bags ensures that food processing and packaging companies can protect the quality and integrity of everyone's favorite hearty snack.

What are crisp bags filled with? ›

In fact, bags of crisps are not filled with atmospheric air but nitrogen, because the oxygen in air would cause the crisps to go soft. Nitrogen gives the product a longer shelf life, and a 1994 study suggested that it makes the crisps tastier.

What happens if nitrogen gas is not filled in the chips packets? ›

Answer: NITROGEN KEEPS THE CHIPS FRESH AND IF IT'S FILLED WITH NORMAL AIR IT WILL SPOIL..

What are potato chips packed in? ›

Potato chips are packed in plastic bags in a Nitrogen atmosphere​ to prevent from being rancid or oxidized. It prevents the spoilage of potato chips. Oxygen is very reactive and likes to combine with other molecules whenever it can, causing chemical changes to take place.

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