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Almudena Nogués
Malaga
Monday, 19 August 2024, 17:39
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Smooth, wavy, sticks, chips or nachos... with or without flavours or unsalted. Potato crisps - even if they are not healthy - are present in the food cupboards of many families. But which ones are the best choice? In Spain the Organisation of Consumers and Users (OCU) has studied the labelling of 331 of these crunchy snacks on the shelves of the country's supermarkets.
The results are overwhelming: half of the products analysed (116 out of 331) are, according to the OCU, a "bad or very bad" choice because they scored less than 40 out of 100 when measured against the parameters testing how healthy they were. "The main reason is the high degree of processing due to the presence of ultra-processed ingredients, including additives and flavourings. Nor does their nutritional composition, especially the high fat and salt content, make them advisable," said the OCU.
Fortunately, said this national consumer watchdog, some products are spared such a crushing judgement. Among them, the OCU highlighted the buckwheat nachos from the organic brand of Sol Natural for having the best composition of ingredients (8.1% fat, 0.4% salt and Nutriscore A, the highest for nutritional value, plus no additives or ultra-processed ingredients). These nachos scored 87 out of 100 on the OCU healthy scale. Likewise, chips with no added salt from the organic Veritas brand, legume (veg-based) nachos (also from the Sol Natural organic brand) and Frititas from the Hispalana brand also passed the test.
Do you know how many calories you ingest with a standard-sized bowl of crisps, the kind you usually serve with a beer or soft drink? A bowl is about 40 grammes, which amounts to 214 kcal, more than 10% of the recommended daily calorie intake for an adult, according to the OCU.
More than half of the calories (52%) come from fat. In the OCU study, the least calorific products were two vegetable chips made from chickpea flour and potato starch, which provide less than 410 kcal/100g (Spogliette di Ceci from Sarchio brand and Chickpea chips from Ecocesta). The most fattening? Potato sticks with 597 kcal/100g.
The fats used in the production of these products are vegetable oils such as olive, sunflower, rapeseed or corn. Therefore the quality of the fats used can generally be considered to be good. And the quantity? "They are products with a not inconsiderable fat content. On average, they contain 30%, but in some products this rises to 44%, i.e. more than 4 parts of their weight is fat," noted the published study.
"We consider up to 1g salt/100g acceptable. However, the average salt content is 1.2%, and in some smooth and wavy potatoes it is as high as 4%", said the OCU. Salt is therefore one of the critical points of these products. But it is also possible to find varieties without added salt, made only with the raw vegetable material (potato or vegetable) and oil. Are those advertised to contain sea salt any better? Not according to the consumer organisation: "The fact that salt comes from the sea does not make it more beneficial".
Interestingly, vegetable chips have the highest sugar content, added the OCU. "For example, Aldi's Sun Snacks, Lidl's Snack day gourmet or Marinas' Veggie experience have 22% sugar. And they are not the only ones".
As far as additives are concerned, the colouring E150d (sulphite ammonia caramel, also known as caramel colouring) is one to avoid. It appears in two products: Ham-flavoured Ruffles and ham-flavoured wavy potato crisps from the Consum label. In addition, almost half of the sample used flavourings. The OCU says it has found smoke in the ingredients list of 16 plain, wavy and flavoured crisps. "Until such flavourings are removed from the market, our advice is to avoid products containing them".
The consumer watchdog's recommendation is to always choose a product with a short list of ingredients. "It is obvious that chips, crisps and nachos are not fresh food, but you can choose the least industrially-processed products possible, made only with raw materials, vegetable oil and salt".
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