Italians continue to snack on ‘chips’ – fried potatoes, substitutes and similar products – despite their poor nutritional profiles. A healthy and sustainable alternative is offered by crunchy vegetables in packets, possibly organic, cooked perhaps in the oven instead of fried.
‘Chips’, emblem of malnutrition
The ‘chips’ are one of the few food categories in which palm oil is still widely used, even in Italy. With detrimental effects on:
– human and environmental rights, since this tropical fat is the primary cause of land grabbing (land grabbing) and deforestation on a global scale,
– consumer health, due to saturated fats and palmitic acid which palm oil contains at 50%, unlike other oils (e.g. sunflower, high-oleic sunflower) which are instead free of it. (1)
The ranking of junk food (HFSS, High in Fats, Sugar and Sodium) sees chips topping the list also for salt content and energy value, almost unmatched in the food universe. Grotesque values, completely incompatible with the dietary needs of the population and above all unchanged, beyond the commitments made by Big Food in various contexts to improve nutritional profiles of their products.
‘(No more) chips‘, the snack vegetable alternatives
Various snack vegetables, alternatives to fried chips, are emerging on shelves. We hope soon also in public establishments and vending machines. For these to be considered alternatives, such products must meet some essential requirements:
– ‘convenience’. The classic format is the packet to carry in a bag, requiring neither refrigeration nor cooking or warming. The product must be suitable to be placed in vending machines, as well as on counters and shelves of public establishments, for ‘on the go’,”
– balanced nutritional profiles. The snack by itself is understood as a ‘break-fast’, as a snack between meals, possibly accompanied by a drink. As such it must be light, must not cause a sudden glycemic reaction nor worsen the diet with unnecessary salt.
Fresh fruit and juices – as well as the ‘smoothies’, when these are missing – represent an excellent solution. They hydrate and quench thirst (thanks to the high water content), provide vitamins and fiber always useful for health. But sometimes they are not enough to satisfy the psychological need to ‘nibble something’ to ‘break the fast’.
snack crunchy vegetables, what advantages
The snack crunchy vegetables, in the writer’s opinion, have all the credentials to live their moment of growth. Such products are actually quite similar to ‘chips’ traditional, in the ‘convenience’ associated with occasional consumption on the go. But they distinguish themselves and stand out compared to ‘potato chips’, in several respects:
– the cooking of the vegetables often occurs in the oven, without adding fats. The most interesting products are those made by drying processes that leave structure and aroma of the raw material unchanged, merely removing almost all the water,
– fats. When fat matrices are added, they generally consist of sunflower or olive oils (which do not have the problems associated with palm oil),
– the vegetables various (e.g. Jerusalem artichokes, tomatoes, peppers, carrots, beets, pumpkins and zucchinis), used as alternatives to potatoes, often contain lower amounts of starch. This reduces the risk of acrylamide formation,
– fibers, offered by these products in appreciable amounts. Sometimes in addition to vitamins, minerals and other substances (e.g. lycopene and carotenoids, polyphenols) that can qualify some products as true superfood,
– food additives, generally absent. The more the nature of the vegetable raw materials is respected, the less there is a need to alter their flavor (with monosodium glutamate, besides the salt usually added to ‘chips’). There is no need to add preservatives, colorings, acidity regulators, all of which we can gladly do without.
Attention to salt
Salt is the element to which maximum attention must always and in any case be paid, even when choosing such snack. Salt must always be kept under strict control, both in snacks and meals, since its intake is still excessive – we consume double the threshold recommended by the WHO – and extremely dangerous.
Dario Dongo
Notes
(1) Refined palm oil also contains process contaminants, carcinogens, and genotoxins, in quantities 6-10 times higher than other refined vegetable oils (while extra virgin olive oil is completely free of them).
EFSA, the European Food Safety Authority, raised the alarm three years ago, but the European Commission and Member States have willfully omitted the necessary management activities of a serious public health risk, especially for children. See previous articles on:
– EFSA scientific assessment 3.5.16,
– ‘Palma-leaks’,” Big Food has known the dangers for at least 12 years and accepted them
– ‘Palma-leaks’, the serious omissions of authorities responsible for managing food safety risks
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT – Food Times) and Égalité.
