I just came across a very interesting piece of research, that was also very nicely described in a blog post by one of the authors. A must read for marketers of potato chips - especially if you want to sell your chips expensive...
You can find the complete blog at: Language of Food: Potato Chips

This excerpt focuses on what they exactly did and what they found:

Josh and I looked at 12 bags of potato chips, 6 more expensive (Boulder, Dirty, Kettle Brand, Popchips, Terra, Season's, averaging 68 cents per ounce) and 6 less expensive (Hawaiian, Herr's, Lays, Tim's, Utz, and Wise, averaging 40 cents per ounce). We coded up all the advertising text from the back of the chips and then examined how the words differed between the two classes of chips.

What factors characterized expensive chips?

You may be surprised to learn that potato chips are a health food; almost all chips (expensive or not) emphasized the healthiness of their products by using phrases like "low fat", "healthier", "no cholesterol", or "lowest sodium level". But these health-related claims occur on expensive chips 6 times as often as on inexpensive chips (6 times per bag versus once per bag). This difference in health language is not, as far as we can tell, due to actual differences in the chips. No chips in our sample contain trans fats, but only 2 out of the 6 inexpensive chips talk about it. By contrast, every one of the 6 expensive chips mentions the lack of trans fats.

Expensive chips also turn out to be much more natural. Phrases such as "natural", "real", or "nothing artificial" are 2.5 times more likely to be mentioned on expensive bags (7 times on each expensive bag but under 3 times on each inexpensive bag).

Finally, expensive chips are 5 times more likely to distinguish themselves from other chips, using comparative phrases like "less fat than other leading brands", "best in America", "in a class of their own". or "a crunchy bite you won't find in any other chip". Where text on the inexpensive chips focuses on the chips themselves, ads for expensive chips emphasize their differences from "lesser" chips.

Another way to differentiate is to use negative markers, words like "never", "not", or "no" ("never fried", "we don't wash out the natural potato flavor", "no wiping your greasy chip hand on your jeans").
Negation emphasizes bad qualities that a chip does not have, subtly suggesting that other brands have this bad quality. To get a more fine-grained analysis, we also regressed the number of negative words against the price. We found that a bag of potato chips costs 4 cents more per ounce for every additional negative word on the bag.

I especially like that last line: "We found that a bag of potato chips costs 4 cents more per ounce for every additional negative word on the bag".

So: can anyone think of more negatives to put on a potato chips bag?

Enjoy reading,

Paul van Eijck

Potatoes, Supply Chain

PVMI board contributes $300,000 to potato breeding program

The PVMI Board has agreed to a $300,000 contribution to the Tri-State University Research and Breeding Program. The money comes from royalties collected this year. Combined with two returns of $100,000 each for the previous two years PVMI has...

Approximately 100 Greek-Cypriot potato packers in Vrysoulles went on strike yesterday against their employer’s intention to sack them and replacing them with EU community workers from Eastern Europe. The strike was organised by workers’ unions SEK...

HZPC has presented it annual report for fiscal 2010/2011, showing records in sales and profits. The conditions in the potato market were such that a unique combination of both a good price level as well as a large volume occurred. HZPC growers...

As the world’s first officially certified low GI potato, it’s no wonder Carisma recently earned The Mitolo Group the Innovation Award under the 2011 South Australian of the Year Awards. As Australia’s leading potato and onion packing company, The...

The easy-to-erect durable structure has been designed to solve immediate post-harvest storage headaches and also achieve big cost savings, according to Ian Anderson, managing director of Preva. The “Airstore,” which can hold up to 900 tonnes of...

Researchers on P.E.I. and in Alberta are looking for new ways to kill wireworms before the larvae destroy farmer's crops. Christine Norohna from Agriculture Canada has already done some research using buckwheat and brown mustard as rotation crops....

Chanting “Free Henk now” and “Mr. Harper, make the call,” about 100 protesters joined family and friends in a small New Brunswick community Sunday to support ongoing efforts to bring imprisoned potato farmer Henk Tepper home in time for the...

Myanmar has shown interest to import potato from Bangladesh because of the low price of the item here, said the commerce minister yesterday. Faruk Khan said Bangladesh will export a total of one lakh tonnes of potato to that country primarily....

Two years on from launching the search for its first ever team of Potato Ambassadors, Potato Council is looking to recruit new growers to get involved in marketing activity and help spread the word that potatoes are healthy, tasty, versatile,...

read more

US Potato Processing up in October

Processors in Idaho and Malheur County, Oregon used 7.49 million cwt of raw potatoes during October, an increase of 6 percent from last October. Accumulated processing of 2011 crop raw potatoes to November 1 was 20.5 million cwt, up 40 percent...

The primacy of the Roman Catholic Church and the centrality of the pub are not the only staples of Irish life under threat. Fresh potatoes are losing their place as the carbohydrate of choice on the Irish plate, prompting a national campaign to...

McCain Foods (Canada) honoured it's Central Plains potato producers at a dinner November 23 in Portage la Prairie. During the annual Growers Banquet, the Top 10 growers for the year were named. Anton Wiebe Ltd. was named the 2011 McCain champion...

Anthony (Tony) Bambridge, co-founder of B & C Farming Ltd, has been awarded the 2011 British Potato Industry Award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the sector. Presenting the award at BP2011 at Harrogate (23 November), Potato...

Celebrating Forty Years 2012 is set to be a milestone year for Herbert Engineering, as the company celebrates its 40th anniversary. From the company’s early days back in the 1970s, when the company served growers in post-harvest on field grading...

AUSVEG CEO Richard Mulcahy today confirmed the reappointment of AUSVEG Chairman John Brent and Deputy Chairman Geoff Moar. Mr Brent was unanimously reappointed as Chairman of the Board, along with Deputy Chairman, Geoff Moar, who was also...

Dr Qu Dongyu, chair of the Potato Association of China (PAC), is to speak at the World Potato Congress (WPC2012) in Great Britain next year. Dr Qu, vice governor of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, will address...

Follow the Potato Council knowledge trail at BP2011 and gain up to 18 BASIS points! There are lots of reasons to register now for your free entry to the event, to be held in Harrogate, Yorkshire on November 23 and 24. Areas of interest include...

Tong Peal Engineering have some exciting new product launches to be revealed alongside their product showcase of its latest range of grading, washing and weighing equipment at British Potato 2011. The UK’s leading designer and manufacturer of...

Statistics Canada has published the preliminary production estimates for the 2011 potato crop in Canada. The Canadian potato production is estimated at 92,653,000 hundredweight (4 202 740 tonnes). This is down 4% from last year’s revised...

read more

415,000 visitors at Agritechnica 2011

“Agritechnica 2011 has impressively demonstrated the global importance of agriculture and agricultural machinery and equipment. With over 2,700 exhibitors and some 415,000 visitors, of whom 100,000 came from outside Germany, a new dimension has...

The agricultural machinery and tractor manufacturers have come to this year's Agritechnica in an exceptionally strong economic upswing phase. "It really is extraordinary how dynamically the agricultural machinery industry has grown this...

Construction has started on a $5.5 million potato harvesting equipment plant in Heyburn in south-central Idaho for Double L Manufacturering. Double L Manufacturing co-owner David Price said the 74,000-square-foot plant located in the new Magic...

AJ Allan announces that the business of A.J. Allan has been acquired by Irish Potato Marketing Ltd (IPM). The business comprises two companies: A.J. Allan (Brechin) Limited and A.J. Allan (Potato Merchants) Limited. IPM is a leading player in the...

The Peruvian farmers cooperative Coopain Cabana recently made a very lucrative deal that benefits the members and the cooperative itself. Their own brand of organic potatoes can now be found on the shelves of the supermarkets of Plaza Vea, one of...

Extreme weather carved a chunk out of Manitoba's potato production this year, but high prices are helping to ease the pain for local producers. Manitoba farmers harvested 38,102 fewer tonnes of potatoes this year -- 825,552 versus 863,654 in 2010,...

Potato prices have slumped to new lows in recent weeks amid claims a glut of spuds from Far North Queensland is causing an oversupply. Potato grower and representative on AUSVEG, David Nix, says the current crop is the largest in the history of...

The popular Yukon Gold potato was a winner at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto this year, where it topped entries in the seventh annual Seed of the Year competition (east division). Developed by the late Garnet (Gary) Johnston, a...

Three years after the formation of a stewardship group and introduction of a CIPC use code of best practice, maximum residue level (MRL) exceedances of sprout suppressant CIPC (chlorpropham) in stored potatoes are rare, but there is no room for...

Agriculture Minister Hussein Hajj Hasan (Lebanon) accused some merchants of exporting spoiled potatoes, warning he would not hesitate to reveal the names behind the shipment of such agricultural produce if they continue they behavioral pattern....

The Potato Council's provisional estimate of total production in Great Britain for the 2011 crop year was announced yesterday. The total crop estimate is 6.053 million tonnes, up 3.5% from 2010. The current crop has a planted area that is 0.4%...

French Fries

2012: the next Year of the Potato

Restaurant Hospitality, a leading foodservice trade magazine reported on the top trends for 2012, according to hospitality and restaurant consultancy Andrew Freeman & Co. These are the fifth annual choices for buzz-worthy trends in...

read more

US Potato Processing up in October

read more

Fatal accident at Aviko Steenderen

A 44 year old employee of Aviko Steenderen was fatally wounded during a work place accident in Aviko's potato processing factory. The accident happened thursday night and was reported around 2.40 am. The man was cleaning a fryer when due to...

Chips and Snacks

Enticing words printed on bags of potato chips have a lot to say about social class, Stanford researchers find

Like politicians who adopt regional accents to appeal to local audiences, the manufacturers of potato chips vary the wording on their bags to convey their products' authenticity in different ways to different buyers. Stanford researchers have...

ConAgra Foods, Inc., (NYSE: CAG) one of North America’s leading food makers, announced today that it has become the majority owner of Indian food company Agro Tech Foods Limited (ATFL), increasing its ownership of shares to more than 50 percent,...

read more

Five Food Trends for 2012 and Beyond

On the food front, Americans may be finally accepting that we are what we eat and start walking the walk. Even our new taste for Nordic cuisine is fueled, perhaps, by images of the lean, robust, and outdoorsy. But what other things are trending on...

Food Industries (FICO) is a leading snack manufacturer located in Kuwait. FICO has more than 30 years experience in the field of snack processing. Over the years FICO grew from a company of less than 30 employees to an international operating...

Potato chip-maker Mister Bee Potato Chip Company filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy on November 21. Doug Klein, president of Mister Bee, says the company is looking to reorganize and take on a new investor. The filing comes a month after the company...

Calbee Paripari Variation My Potato, Mocha Cocoa Potato Chips, a new coffee flavoured potato chip in Japan, was selected by Datamonitor as the innovation of the week. "Bitter and sweet" are the words used to describe the new limited...

Potato Starch, Potato Dehy, Ingredients for Potato Processing

Starch Manufacturer AVEBE looks back on a good financial year

In financial year 2010/2011 potato starch manufacturer AVEBE achieved a net profit of EUR 19.8 million with a net turnover of EUR 525.1 million. By way of comparison: in the previous financial year the net profit was EUR 2.8 million with a net...

read more

US Potato Processing up in October

Food Ingredients Europe 2011 in Paris is the global meeting point of the food and beverages industry. This year too K + S Kali GmbH will be attending as manufacturers. K+S KALI GmbH is presenting its highlights of the year, such as KaliSel – its...

Innova Market Insights has identified ten key trends to impact the food and beverage market through 2012 and beyond. The top trends relate purity, authenticity and sustainability, as consumers continue to look for products with added value, despite...

Starch group AVEBE has completed the upgrade of a production line at its production site in Ter Apelkanaal in the Netherlands. The investment, involving a sum of 10 million euros, forms part of an ongoing investment programme. The company is also...

At KMC’s annual general meeting on 11 November 2011 Chairman Martin Arvad was very pleased to present a historically strong result. The result represented a highly positive development compared to last year’s result. After several years of...

Processing and Packaging Equipment, Auctions

Third BMA Snacks production line for FICO

Key Technology announces the promotion of Steve Johnson to the position of Director of Marketing. Johnson is responsible for leading worldwide marketing activities that build awareness for the company’s automated inspection and sorting systems,...

Herbert Engineering, the leaders in handling systems for the agricultural and fresh pack industries, is announcing the launch of Ultra-Wash, the potato washer that allows the crop to be effectively cleaned without submersion in dirty water, at...

read more

Tong Peal to attend British Potato 2011

Producers Quex Foods are launching their Kent Crisps range in bigger 150g bags to encourage purchase in the sharing market. Available from selected Waitrose, pubs, farm shops, delis, and fine food specialists, the new size goes on sale this month...

Key Technology announces the appointment of Louis Vintro as Senior Vice President of Business Development and Global Operations. Vintro is responsible for planning and managing all aspects of Key’s operations, including business development, in...

Packaging equipment manufacturer HayssenSandiacre, A Barry Wehmiller Company, announces the acquisition of Simionato. Michael T. May, president of HayssenSandiacre, announced the stock purchase of Simionato Integrated Packaging System S.r.l., a...

Doga Seed and BMA successfully completed the installation of a new 3000 kg/h french fries production line in Nevsehir, Turkey. Potato Company Doga Seed and equipment manufacturer BMA successfully finalized the installation by signing the...

Tong Peal, the UK’s leading designer and manufacturer of handling and sorting equipment for the vegetable industry, has introduced a new generation crop cleaning system, which is the latest addition to its range of farm and pack house machinery for...

Food Trends, QSR, Retail, Nutrition, Environment

2012: the next Year of the Potato

read more

Five Food Trends for 2012 and Beyond

As convenience stores continue offering busy consumers more options for meals and snacks, new research by Technomic finds consumers are taking advantage of the expanding foodservice options, many times at the expense of quick-service restaurants....

India threw open its $450 billion retail market to global supermarket giants on Thursday, approving its biggest reform in years that may boost sorely needed investment in Asia's third-largest economy. Trade Minister Anand Sharma said on Friday...

The debate over whether food companies should be outed for failing to reduce sodium in their products is on the table at a two-day meeting of provincial and territorial health ministers that starts Thursday November 24 in Halifax. As Health...

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) today announced it has reorganized its Yum! Restaurants International division (YRI) to continue to drive aggressive international expansion and build strong brands globally. The Company also announced that Micky Pant,...

After eating a potato-plentiful lunch that she deemed both “delicious and nutritious,” U.S. Sen. Susan Collins was honored Monday afternoon for her work in assuring that schools across the nation are free to serve potatoes to students. During a...

read more

School lunch amendment signed into law

President Obama signed a government funding extension that included 2012 appropriations funding for USDA and five other agencies on Friday, November 18. The bill also included the bipartisan Senate amendment sponsored by Senators Susan Collins...

Traditional food crops and other plant varieties worldwide are in urgent need of protection from climate change and other environmental stresses, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said today, as it observed the tenth anniversary of the...

As the US legislation regarding school meal programs makes is way through the various stages of the approval process, a new stage has been reached and the provision that prohibits the USDA to set limits to vegetables is preserved in the current...

Attendee registration for National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel‐Motel Show (NRA Show) 2012 and International Wine, Spirits & Beer Event (IWSB) is now open. Attending the live Show is always a unique experience. However, in case you...

It's easy to think of local food as a diversion for people with plenty of time and money — something that could never be a major source of food in a globalized world. But the number $4.8 billion might change that perception. American farmers say...

New Companies

	Agsort Agsort manufactures optical sorting solutions for today's grower under the E-sorter brand. St. Augustine, United States
	Bart's Potato Company Bart's Potato Company is a family owned exporter of potatoes in Belgium. Vleteren, Belgium
	Crop Systems Ltd Crop Systems Ltd from the United Kingdom designs and installs potato and crop storage controllers and equipment for farmers, growers and produce suppliers North Walsham, United Kingdom
	Food Industries (FICO) Food Industries (FICO) is a leading snack manufacturer located in Kuwait. FICO has more than 30 years experience in the field of snack processing. Safat, Kuwait
	Jordan Potato and Corn Chips Company Jordan Potato and Corn Chips Company is a manufacturer of potato chips and potato sticks from Jordan. zerka, Jordan
	KF Biotech Pvt Ltd KF Biotech is an Indian producer and supplier of seed potatoes derived from tissue culture based technology Jalandhar, India
	Pakistan Onion Potato Pakistan Onion Potato is a grower, processor and exporter of Pakistani agro products such as Pakistani potatoes, Pakistan Red onions, Pakistan Basmati Rice.Pakistan Onion Potato is a subsidiary of the H.S. Group, one of the leading groups in Pakistan dealing with food grains and agro commodity. Karachi, Pakistan
	SnackCo SnackCo is a manufacturer of potato chips (continuous lines) kettle fried potato chips (batch fried) potato based pellet snacks under the LantChips, Pioneer Chips, Imperial Crisps brand. Clearfield, Utah,United States
	Trident Potato Quilts The Trident Potato Quilt protects potatoes in bulk and boxed store to a temperature of -10. Stockport, United Kingdom

Latest News | Find a Supplier | Events | More...

Forward to a friend