The article doesn’t mention it, but at least here in Europe, one big issue is that they changed all their products to be tasteless.
Because of the ‘healthy foods’ grading we have here, they took out a lot of what made their chips tasty. Resulting in very bland products. We personally haven’t bought any of those brands for a few years now because of it. Because I don’t want a ‘healthy’ chip - I want a tasty snack.
It’s definitely noticeable in Dutch supermarkets that many people are ditching those brands because of the lack of taste. And the price increases just accelerate that.
This ranks a food from A (best) to E (worst) based on how well it fits into the dietary guidelines.
Important thing to note: it’s a ranking that compares foods in that same group. So it’s not ‘vegetables are A, pizza is E’, but rather ‘this Doritos has less salt than this bag of Lay’s’.
Now, this effectively caused companies to make their products blander in order to avoid a worse score. It also happened to save them money - you use fewer ingredients.
End result: chips now appear healthier because they have a better score… while also tasting like cardboard.
And how did that go over with consumers? See article. And you can read numerous complaints about it on social media.
Ironically, this also means that the Nutri-Score sorta works. Why eat chips when they are tasteless? 😂
Alright, I thought you were saying evil EU laws make our food suck but it’s actually good old corporate decisions to maximize profit. I’m Dutch as well so I know about nutriscore. I don’t see that clear line between an advisory traffic light system on packaging and Lay’s making potato chips worse than they already were. It’s up to Lay’s, don’t blame the nutriscore.
I bet it will become like the Parental Guidance symbol. People will buy products with a low Nutri-Score because that (for junk food) symbolises quality.
I remember one chef giving the very specific critique that America doesn’t add nearly enough salt to its foods. Seems that’s a very tense cultural thing.
Wow something we’re actually getting right here. How salty things taste to you adjusts over time depending on what your normal level is. And salt is super bad for you.
The article doesn’t mention it, but at least here in Europe, one big issue is that they changed all their products to be tasteless.
Because of the ‘healthy foods’ grading we have here, they took out a lot of what made their chips tasty. Resulting in very bland products. We personally haven’t bought any of those brands for a few years now because of it. Because I don’t want a ‘healthy’ chip - I want a tasty snack.
It’s definitely noticeable in Dutch supermarkets that many people are ditching those brands because of the lack of taste. And the price increases just accelerate that.
Can you mention specific regulation? I’m not sure what you’re saying is correct
In the Netherlands and a few other countries we have the Nutri-Score
https://www.rivm.nl/en/food-and-nutrition/nutri-score
This ranks a food from A (best) to E (worst) based on how well it fits into the dietary guidelines.
Important thing to note: it’s a ranking that compares foods in that same group. So it’s not ‘vegetables are A, pizza is E’, but rather ‘this Doritos has less salt than this bag of Lay’s’.
Now, this effectively caused companies to make their products blander in order to avoid a worse score. It also happened to save them money - you use fewer ingredients.
End result: chips now appear healthier because they have a better score… while also tasting like cardboard.
And how did that go over with consumers? See article. And you can read numerous complaints about it on social media.
Ironically, this also means that the Nutri-Score sorta works. Why eat chips when they are tasteless? 😂
Alright, I thought you were saying evil EU laws make our food suck but it’s actually good old corporate decisions to maximize profit. I’m Dutch as well so I know about nutriscore. I don’t see that clear line between an advisory traffic light system on packaging and Lay’s making potato chips worse than they already were. It’s up to Lay’s, don’t blame the nutriscore.
I bet it will become like the Parental Guidance symbol. People will buy products with a low Nutri-Score because that (for junk food) symbolises quality.
I remember one chef giving the very specific critique that America doesn’t add nearly enough salt to its foods. Seems that’s a very tense cultural thing.
I think that chef might have had a sodium deficiency
Wow something we’re actually getting right here. How salty things taste to you adjusts over time depending on what your normal level is. And salt is super bad for you.
Yeh. Feel that. I hate it. However it’s helped me stop and get over them.