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More About Lays

by: Jill Richardson

Wed May 13, 2009 at 10:00:31 AM PDT

I headed on over to the Frito-Lay website to check out the ingredients and nutritional information for Lay's chips. That was after seeing a charming handout Frito-Lay provided to Registered Dietitians telling them how they could advise their patients about snacking (I'm sorry but junk food companies are the LAST people on earth who should be handing out nutrition advice). When I got to the site, I realized how out of touch I am. If you want to look up nutritional info on the chips, the first question you have to answer is "Which variety?" Out of a zillion! And do you love how certain chip flavors are now named "Artificially Flavored"? Looks to me like somebody was either sued or threatened with a lawsuit over that in the past...

UPDATE: Want to give Lays your own $.02 about their "local" marketing campaign? Call 1-800-352-4477 (Mon-Fri, 9am-4:30pm Central). Let's flood their phone lines!

Jill Richardson :: More About Lays

LAY'S® Barbecue Flavored Potato Chips
LAY'S® Cheddar & Sour Cream Artificially Flavored Potato Chips
LAY'S® Chile Limon Flavored Potato Chips
LAY'S® Classic Potato Chips
LAY'S® Dill Pickle Flavored Potato Chips
LAY'S® FLAMIN' HOT® Flavored Potato Chips
LAY'S® Hot & Spicy Barbecue Flavored Potato Chips
LAY'S® Light Original Potato Chips
LAY'S® Limon Tangy Lime Flavored Potato Chips
LAY'S® Natural Sea Salt Flavored Thick Cut Potato Chips
LAY'S® Salt & Vinegar Artificially Flavored Potato Chips
LAY'S® Sour Cream & Onion Artificially Flavored Potato Chips
BAKED! LAY'S® Barbecue Flavored Potato Crisps
BAKED! LAY'S® Cheddar & Sour Cream Flavored Potato Crisps
BAKED! LAY'S® Original Potato Crisps
BAKED! LAY'S® Sour Cream & Onion Artificially Flavored Potato Crisps
BAKED! LAY'S® Southwestern Ranch Flavored Potato Crisps
LAY'S® Kettle Cooked Jalapeno Potato Chips
LAY'S® Kettle Cooked Maui Onion Potato Chips
LAY'S® Kettle Cooked Mesquite BBQ Potato Chips
LAY'S® Kettle Cooked Original Potato Chips
LAY'S® Kettle Cooked Reduced Fat Original Flavored Potato Chips
LAY'S® Kettle Cooked Sea Salt & Vinegar Potato Chips
LAY'S® Kettle Cooked Sharp Cheddar Potato Chips
LAY'S® STAX® Cheddar Flavored Potato Crisps
LAY'S® STAX® Salt & Vinegar Flavored Potato Crisps
LAY'S® STAX® Original Flavored Potato Crisps
LAY'S® STAX® Mesquite Barbecue Flavored Potato Crisps
LAY'S® STAX® Ranch Flavored Potato Crisps
LAY'S® STAX® Sour Cream & Onion Flavored Potato Crisps
LAY'S® Wavy Au Gratin Flavored Potato Chips
LAY'S® Wavy Hickory Barbecue Flavored Potato Chips
LAY'S® Wavy Original Potato Chips
LAY'S® Wavy Ranch Flavored Potato Chips
LAY'S® Classic Potato Chips 6 Count Singles

I decided to check the ingredients and nutrition info on the Maui Onion chips (for no other reason than I like Hawaii and I wonder what the hell a Maui onion has to do with chips).

Ingredients: Potatoes, Sunflower Oil, Dextrose, Onion Powder, Corn Maltodextrin, Monosodium Glutamate, Modified Cornstarch, Malic Acid, Gum Arabic, Garlic Powder, Natural Flavor, Maui Onion Powder, Hydrolyzed (Corn, Soy, Wheat) Proteins, and Caramel Color.

What the hell is half that stuff? I'm going to write the company and ask what Maui onion powder is. I sincerely hope that it is powdered onions from Maui. One ounce of chips has 150 calories and 8g of fat. As you can see, the fat mostly comes from sunflower oil, a rather bad oil in terms of omega 6:3 ratio, even if it has very little saturated fat.

Tags: Frito-Lay, (All Tags)

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More About Lays | 11 comments

Email attempt to Frito-Lay (4.00 / 4)

Here's the message I tried to send...

Hello,
I was reading through the ingredients on your Maui Onion chips and I noticed you list Onion Powder and Maui Onion Powder. What is Maui Onion Powder? Is it simply powder made from onions grown in Maui? Or a specific variety of onion? Or is it a mix of spices or natural or artificial flavors that provides a special "Maui" flavor to the chips?
Thanks,
Jill

However, after I filled out literally 4 pages worth of forms to send the message, it told me my message could not be sent due to system error. I'm gonna see if they have a phone number. In the meantime, does anyone else want to try asking this question of them too?

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

by: Jill Richardson @ Wed May 13, 2009 at 17:04:55 PM UTC

by: you @ soon

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OK, I got through on the phone (4.00 / 5)

Yes, they are simply onions from Maui. A special variety of red onions that are ACTUALLY grown in Maui. The chips used to be made there but no longer are.

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

by: Jill Richardson @ Wed May 13, 2009 at 17:08:51 PM UTC

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by: you @ soon

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Oh c'mon...at least *try* Google first! (4.00 / 3)

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-i...

Failing to check that kind of stuff really lowers your credibility. Onion powder is a perfectly well-known ingredient, and just as there are Vidalia onions from Vidalia, Georgia, there are Maui onions...yes, from Maui.

Check your facts. I'd be more concerned about monosodium glutamate than about onion powder of any stripe.

by: brlittle @ Wed May 13, 2009 at 19:02:18 PM UTC

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by: you @ soon

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Well Maui Onions are not very locavore (4.00 / 2)

unless you live on da islands. Plus if you google every detail of your blog thoughts who is gonna post a comment? Mistakes get corrected and it creates conversation.

by: Curtis Abbey @ Wed May 13, 2009 at 19:18:03 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Actually Maui Onions are (4.00 / 2)

a yellow onion grown in Maui, Hawaii. Emeril has done a program segment on Maui Onions, and I just saw one of Andrew Zimmern's program segments on Maui Onions. The fellow who was on Emeril's program grew them and said that they were a regular yellow onion, and the fellow on Andrew's program who grows them didn't say whether they were yellow or red, but Andrew pulled one out of the ground, ate it right then and there, and it looked like a regular yellow onion.

The main thing that makes the onion so sweet and mild, is primarily the soils and climate they're grown in. I have an idea that if you took Maui Onion seed or sets and grew them in soils that were high in sulfer, you'd have a much sharper onion.

Regarding locavores as elitists - explain to me how supporting local business is elitist....

by: Joanne Rigutto @ Wed May 13, 2009 at 19:53:51 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

good point (4.00 / 1)

but it wasn't too hard to call. And I like to be a smartass whenever I get the opportunity, so on the chance that the "Maui onion powder" was actually some bullshit artificial flavoring, I was kind of hoping to have a funny phone conversation to report back about.

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

by: Jill Richardson @ Wed May 13, 2009 at 20:45:48 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Phone calls are better than google (4.00 / 1)

You call and question their ingredients, they are aware people are watching/reading the ingredients in their food. You can also ask follow up questions if you don't like their answer and pin them down on specifics. There's all kinds of pat answers these companies give to make it sound as if you are getting the answer you want to hear, but questioning can reveal quite the opposite. You can find those same pat answers when you google, getting the real answer, not so much. Email also works if you are willing to go a few rounds with the companies. Depending on my mood and the first response I get, makes a difference as to how I feel about a particular product and quite frankly the entire company. Most of the time, I don't feel like playing their game and just cross them off my list and move on {grin}

by: nycstray @ Wed May 13, 2009 at 22:19:00 PM UTC

[ Parent ]