Evaluation of Market‐Available Snack Chip Packaging: Modified Atmosphere Packaging, Water Activity, Mechanical Properties, and Efficiency of Packaging Material Use

Snack chips come in a wide variety. They are sensitive to oxidation and water vapor absorption. Therefore, it is valuable to look closer at the current packaging situation. For this study, 108 snack chip products packaged in pouches and cans were analysed. The most often used oil was sunflower oil followed by a blend of vegetable oils. Unexpectedly, only at 44 of the tested products modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) was used. This result is important since many packagings could be designed in future with less oxygen barrier. On the other side, use of MAP might potentially increase quality and shelf-life of chips currently without MAP. The packaging material efficiencies of pouches were found to be better than that of cans. It increased with higher filling quantities. In the best case the ratio was 50 g chips per 1 g packaging material for a pouch with a filling quantity of 300 g. For bigger packages, a lower relative cost could be observed, especially for pouches.