Image: Colourbox.de
But more expensive does not automatically mean better, according to a test by the Chamber of Labor (AK) Upper Austria. The consumer advocates examined twelve products – salted potato chips – from different manufacturers, as they reported in a press release on Wednesday.
First of all: The ingredients do not justify the price difference. All chips consist of potato slices baked or fried in oil. All are fatty and high in calories, with 27 to 35 grams of fat or 503 to 552 kcal per 100 grams, there were no major differences. The salt content varied between medium and high, based on the British Food Standard Agency’s traffic light system. Most producers use sunflower or rapeseed oil, two – one commercial and one manufacturer brand – palm oil. The AK advises avoiding palm oil because, compared to other vegetable oils, it can contain higher amounts of fatty pollutants and causes significant ecological and social problems in the producing countries.
Does the taste justify the price difference?
The origin of the potatoes was also asked, after all four products contain potatoes from Austria, with the EU stepping in with goods if necessary. Most producers use potatoes from Germany, two also from the Netherlands or Europe. A branded product quite cryptically states the origin of the raw material as “from the EU area”.
The taste remains to justify the large price differences. The AK got to the bottom of this in a lay tasting. 20 people rated the types of chips – of course without knowing which product it was. There was no clear winner, but proof that tastes are really very different, because the most expensive and lowest-salt product tasted very good to some, while others rejected it completely.
Source: Nachrichten
