Potato chip has become a popular snack around the world, especially in the United States. Even though, people realize that chip is an unhealthy food, but with the cost of only $1 per bag or so, people choose to enjoy the tasty and crunchy taste of fried potato instead of any other kind of healthier snack.
Behind that one dollar people pay for a bag of chip, there are a lot more hidden cost. First of all, for every 200 gram bag of potato chips, 185 liters of water is used in the production (Meat is Murder 2008). Not only is a lot of water used in the production, there is also tremendous waste of water along with that.
The New York Times reported on the typical process for making potato chips uses huge amounts of “energy, and creates vast amounts of wastewater, starch and potato peelings” (Andrew Martin 2007). However, efforts are being made to reduce the waste involved with production. One example of extra production costs that producers have been working to cut back on includes PepsiCo's cheese and onion-flavored potato chips. The company learned that farmers were using energy to hydrate potatoes because they were paid per ton, and wet potatoes weigh more. Since that discovery, energy used in making chips has been cut by one third by buying potatoes differently.
Because of the fact that large amount of water is being used in chip production, Frito-Lay is embarking on an ambitious plan to change the way this factory operates, and in the process, create a new type of snack, the environmentally benign chip. Its goal is to take the Casa Grande plant (Frito-Lay’s factory in Arizona) off the power grid, or nearly so, and run it almost entirely on renewable fuels and recycled water (FritoLay 2008).
Not only the energy saving that the company is focusing on, there are also other benefits besides the potential energy savings. Like many other large corporations, PepsiCo is striving to establish its green credentials as consumers become more focused on climate change. There are also marketing opportunities. The company, for example, intends to advertise that its popular SunChips snacks are made using solar energy.
Dennis Meizys mentioned in her research project, How Many Toxins Are in Your Potato Chips saying that “Acrylamide is a dangerous chemical present in foods such as french fries, potato chips, breakfast cereals, cookies and crackers.”
According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency acrylamide is a probable human carcinogen. Acrylamide was listed by the Governor of California as a chemical known to cause cancer on January 1, 1990, under the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986.
Dennis Meizys concludes in her research that he found that every potato chip product tested contained between 39 and 910 times more acrylamide than the Toxin Enforcement Act of 1986 warning threshold currently allows. According to this analysis, each of the products tested requires a warning about cancer risk from acrylamide.
Moreover, she also research on the production of biodiesel and happened to find more information on potato chip production. She said “One manufacturer replied to my offer to purchase their used oil with the explanation that they hardly have any used oil left-over after the process. Tens of thousands of gallons come in, barely hundreds come out” (More Reasons to Avoid Potato Chips 2008).
This manufacturer recycles the oil until it is entirely absorbed by the food. All that dirty oil eventually ends up in the potato chips themselves. One problem that occurs after re-using vegetable oils is that FFA's (free fatty acids) concentrate. The manufacturer volunteered this fact and noted that their solution is to chemically treat the oil to reduce the FFA's, after which it is sent back to produce more potato chips
It is difficult to determine exactly how much of the chemical, which is a natural byproduct of cooking starchy food at high temperature, is present in any given food. High levels of acrylamide in food were first reported in 2002, and, currently, little is known about how acrylamide forms, exactly how it affects people or what to do about it.
In fact, no manufacturers provide information on how much acrylamide is present in their products, and the most recent FDA data is more than two years old. Studies have shown that acrylamide causes cancer in lab mice and rats. The federal limit for acrylamide in drinking water is 0.5 parts per billion, or about 0.12 micrograms in an eight-ounce glass of water. However, a six-ounce serving of french fries can contain 60 micrograms of acrylamide.
In Dennis Meizys’s conclusion, she said “Go ahead, have another potato chip -- you are doing our environment a favor by "disposing" of that garbage with your own internal garbage disposal system. Your sink's garbage disposal system will wear out every five years and can be replaced for about $80, but how will you replace your stomach, liver and kidneys and arteries?" (More Reasons to Avoid P