TIL: Pringles Aren’t Actually Potato Chips

in #til8 years ago

If you ever thought that Pringles chips were made in the conventional way that chips are made, by shaving off slices of potato and deep frying them, you would be in for a shock. In fact, they aren’t even ‘potato chips’.

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Apparently, the potato content in Pringles chips is only about 42%. The rest of the ingredients include wheat, rice and corn! They start of as dough which is rolled out into a thin sheet and then cut into shape by a machine after which the rest of the processing happens. So, no cutting of potatoes involved there!

Originally marketed as “Pringles Newfangled Potato Chips”, the company behind  the brand, Procter & Gamble, had to change the way they marketed this product and began calling it “crisps”. Funnily, this got them in trouble in the UK, where potato chips are called crisps! Today, the brand is owned by Kellogg’s.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pringles

http://io9.gizmodo.com/5851487/how-are-pringles-made

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Can they mashed into a fine paste. That is the only food I can eat... or more accurately drink.

Artists rendering of the last time I tried to eat solid food.

I thought your technology was advanced enough to use sunlight as food ;) :D

I thought sith lords can just suck the life force from others to live ;)

In Canada, our food labels all come with a list of ingredients. Some of my personal favorites on the Pringles list include disodium guanylate and disodium inosinate. Without those, the monosodium glutatmate will not be as effective. Once you pop, you can't stop! ...because they put chemicals in the food to trick your senses.

Yeah, companies like these use a variety of chemicals to do all sorts of things. But it has a long term adverse effect on our health.

I've always found it a bit strange when people are misled by the power of lobbyists and spin artists. I've seen protests. People marching. Demanding this sort of information not be placed on their food. It's so puzzling.

I'm surprised the other ingredients are as innocent as wheat, rice, and corn!

Those are the ingredients only for the dough. There are many other non-innocent ingredients that they use.

I bet there are at least a dozen other laboratory-created ingredients added as "fillers." But Pringles are tasty, so what the heck?

I guess I've been eating corn all along.
Crisp got then in trouble?
How did Apple got away with naming a tech company as a fruit? ;-)

Haha! Legal issues are weird!

I always thought they had a weird texture! I also seem to remember in the late 1990s or early 2000s they trialled that fake fat substitute called Olean. Whatever happened to that?

I remember Olean! They probably discovered it causes cancer and quietly withdrew it from the market.

Weird the wikipedia entry doesn't really point to anything damning. In fact the last part has some indications it could be used to treat certain types of neurotoxic conditions. It also suggests you can still buy products which contain it. I think the side effect of steatorrhea may well be the main reason then since it is just really unpleasant .

It actually made us feel good for eating potato chips because it was fat free!

It wasn't fat free though if I remember correctly - they replaced a third of the fat with the olestra/olean but yes the way they sold it was guilt free snacking.

You're probably right. It was several years back.

Yes or I seem to have some inkling that it may have had some liver and or pancreatic issues but it is a very hazy memory. For a while it was in so many snack foods.

Aw man, nothing is sacred!

Yeah I always thought pringles tasted weird. Guess now I know why LOL!

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Im a newfangled kinda hungry

Digging your random, but informative, posts :)