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Food and Drink Crispy Mong Kok Astley Chu Kin-kan, food researcher of the food and nutritional sciences programme at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said manufacturers chose to develop new flavours of potato chips but not changing the thickness or texture of the chips because the latter method cost much more."New flavours are developed by mixing different kinds of flavourings, which is comparatively cheaper," Chu said. However, many junior secondary school students like new products since they are tired of the traditional flavours, according to a sales assistant at a 7-Eleven convenience store in Kwai Chung. "Of all the crisp products, pizza-flavoured chips are still the most popular one among students," she added.
Healthy chips? Some consumers consider chips with fruit or vegetable flavours healthier as they are less oily and light in flavour, but that can be a misconception. "We must know how much saturated fat is there in the chips in order to analyse their impacts on health," said Astley Chu Kin-kan, a researcher of the food and nutritional sciences programme at the Chinese University. He said saturated fat, which would lead to high blood pressure and high cholesterol level, was more harmful than the unsaturated one. To identify whether vegetableflavoured chips are less oily than other kinds of crisps, Chu used paper to absorb the oil in a cracked cucumber-flavoured chip and that of the BBQ flavour. The result showed that the cucumber-flavoured chip was even a little bit oilier. But the researcher said oilier chips might not be more harmful to health, as the key should be looking at the fat level. "The green packaging gives consumers a healthier feeling," Chu said, adding that such a perception had more to do with marketing strategy. |
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