Potato Crisps and Snack Foods

Snacks represent a food that has gained great popularity due to changes in lifestyles in recent years and to the fact that many people now have less time to spend eating. There are different kinds of snack products which may be classified according to: (i) raw materials used in their production (vegetables, fruits, restructured dough, etc.) and (ii) unit operations used for their manufacture (frying, baking, extrusion, roasting, etc.). Potato crisps are the star product among the commercial snacks. This article briefly discusses the main quality characteristics of potato snacks, giving an overview of the most important aspects of their production and quality attributes. Current challenges in snack industry focus on producing healthier snacks (reducing the amount of fat, sodium and sugar, principally) without losing the typical quality characteristics of these products.