Ruffles Reduced Fat Potato Chips Review

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Nutrition

Bag
Calories
Fat
Saturated
Salt
Sugars
28g
80
0g
0g
190mg
0g
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Verdict

Bag

The Ruffles Original flavor bag design is as well known as the brand. The light blue, the positioning of the logo. It all looks so familiar. And bland. It seems odd that a company like FritoLay would have the second biggest brand name in the US, yet do nothing with it. Firstly, Ruffles needs a logo. The lettering may be familiar, but it should be treated like a standalone brand. The two tone blue at the top of the bag should be Wavy; der! The bottom should be larger and flavor color coded. More should be made of the slogan, 'RRRuffles Have Ridges'. But mostly, the new two man teams of the 'Max' flavors and the 'Ultimate' flavors, should be made to feel part of the family. The Hispanic flavors are a small progression in design, but they still feel separate, with just the brand name in common. It is all a bit old-fashioned, disjointed and disparate. 
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Crunch

These Chips seemed to have a particularly light and airy crunch. It was a sort of brittle, snap that was hard to differentiate from standard Chips.

Texture

These Potato Chips lacked much of the character of the normal Ruffles Chips. The R-R-Ridges were still apparent, but they seemed devoid of character. No color, no visible seasoning. A bit odd.
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Taste

FritoLay are among a select number of Chips companies that are still using Olestra. To explain - We first came across this cooking product when reviewing the Lay's version of this Chip. Our views are the same, so this is what we wrote: How do they create a nutrition label like that? We were amazed and had to see the ingredients on the nutrition label. There had to be potatoes, some sort of vegetable oil and sodium, but what else? Actually, no. This is the ingredients list: Potatoes, Olestra, Salt, Alphatocopheryl, Acetate (Vitamin E), Vitamin A Palmitate, Tocopherols (to protect flavor), Vitamin K, Vitamin D. Now that is some scary sounding stuff, but maybe not quite as scary as one particular ingredient: Olestra. From 1996 to 2003, products containing the fat substitute included a label that explained that it could cause abdominal cramping and diarrhea. One of the world's richest and most powerful food companies, Proctor & Gamble, carried out their own studies. The FDA agreed to P&G's claims and the warning was removed from packaging. The product is not approved for sale in the European Union or Canada. You can make your own minds up, but we will admit that our Test included the consumption of two Chips for this review and the rest of the bag went in the trash.