How much air is in your bag of chips?

04-Jul-2018 - Last updated on 13-Aug-2018 at 12:36 GMT

There is a lot of misleading packaging out there and it can often be difficult for shoppers to accurately perceive the correct size.

A group of die-hard chip lovers at Kitchen Cabinet Kings commissioned a study to find out if some of their favorite chip brands were offering more whiff than crunch.

They gathered 14 recognized brands,​ ranging from healthy alternatives to more caloric options, to measure the air to chip ratio in each bag. They did so using the water displacement method, then crunched the numbers to find out which brands held the highest percentage of air.

Actually, the answer is no. What many of us have mistaken for atmospheric air in our chip is actually nitrogen. In fact, oxygen would cause the chips to go stale and oils to become rancid.

This process is known as “slack fill”, which is even thought to make chips taste better. Slack fill isn't harmful in any way, since about 78% of the air we breathe is composed of nitrogen.

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