As aggravating as it may be to open a bag of Lay's chips and discover empty air where your evening snack should be, that empty area is intentional. So, why potato chip bags are always empty at the top?
Author:Xander OddityReviewer:Dr. Felix ChaosphereDec 16, 2022194 Shares2.5K Views
It is done for safety purposes. "Slack fill" is a deliberate decision made by snack manufacturers to protect their fragile foods from damage throughout the delivery process.
When things are stacked on top of one another, jammed into tight places, or simply jostled around in the back of a delivery truck, void fill acts as an air cushion to prevent potato chips from disintegrating.
Why potato chip bags are always empty at the top or why are they filled with air? It is done to save chips from damaging during transportation. It is not only ordinary air that causes potato chip bags to expand; it also consists of nitrogen.
Oxygen can cause the potatoes and oil to get stale and rancid, while the humidity in the surrounding air causes the chips to become soggy. Instead, chip bags are filled with nitrogen gas to keep the snacks crisp, as confirmed by an expert panel of testers in a 1994 food science study.
Approximately 78 percent of the air we breathe currently consists of nitrogen, making nitrogen flushing completely safe. Regardless, this does not justify the vast amount of space that gas occupies in a chip bag that should be filled with food.
Despite the fact that the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act of 1966 required manufacturers to clearly indicate the net weight of their product's substance to prevent consumers from being deceived by large-appearing packages on store shelves (as good as new potato chips, now with 50 percent more air! ), the controls are occasionally authorized.
People are poor at accurately perceiving sizes; therefore, even the most discerning customers will mistakenly believe that larger packaging equals more product if they do not examine the product's name closely.
So, while a small amount of extra room in a chip bag can help keep potato chips fresh, excessive space may indicate that the company is trying to pull a fast one on you.
Chip makers fill the packaging with air on purpose to keep it from getting damaged during shipping. Chips have to travel a long way before they reach consumers.
If you're a fan of junk food, you'll know that when you cut open a bag of potato chips, it's usually always just half full, regardless of where you shop or what brand you purchase. So you might think why potato chip bags are always empty at the top. There is a good explanation for this, and no, the food company is not trying to deceive you.
In the manufacturing business, "slack fill" refers to the intentional placement of empty space around a product. The extra space is intended to act as a buffer to protect your Lays, Ruffles, or Tostitos from harm.
The journey from the production facility to the vending machine at your office might be quite rocky! Your chips would definitely resemble bread crumbs if it weren't for loose fill.
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Dr. Felix Chaosphere
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