Research: Flavored Potato Chips – What people are looking for

Flavored Potato Chips is the most compared food category on FoodEssentials.com with 9117 comparisons in the last 6 months – or 1.43% of all comparisons – which if you consider there are over 1000 food categories – is a fair bit of attention.

We have 50 products categorized under the flavored potato chips food category and below we will explore what people are looking for when comparing different chip products.

Top 5 Comparisons:

The table below outlines the top food variables that people are choosing when they compare flavored potato chips.  Of note is the fact that the two most compared variables account for over 50% of all comparisons.  Gluten at 29.3% of all comparisons is the most popular with MSG suprisingly the second most popular comparison at 23% of the time.

Flavored Potato Chips – Top Comparisons
Rank	Comparison	Num Comparisons	Percentage
1	Gluten	2672	29.3%
2	MSG	2095	23.0%
3	Soy	513	5.6%
4	High Fructose Corn Syrup	369	4.0%
5	Cereals	261	2.9%

Another point of interest is the fact that of the 36 possible variables to compare by the top 22 are additive, allergen or ingredient comparisons, and it is not until number 23 that we find Calories – the first nutrient compared at only 1% of the time.

This could reflect the fact that for  flavored potato chips people are either generally more concerened about what has been added to ¨flavor¨the chips or that they are not expecting significant nutritional value  from a package of chips.  This could also explain the popularity of MSG being compared.

28 out of 50 flavored potato chips in the FoodEssentials database are Gluten Free and there are 31 products that are MSG free.  At the bottom of this post I have posted lists of both.

Second Tier Choices – when compared by GLUTEN:

In this following section we’ll look into the top two food comparisons in a little more detail.  Let’s start will Gluten and the table below.

Second Tier Comparisons following GLUTEN – Flavored Potato Chips
Rank	Comparison	Num Comp.	%
1	Cereals	78	17.8%
2	Calories	65	14.8%
3	Sulphites	19	4.3%
4	Dairy	18	4.1%
5	Peanuts	18	4.1%

When people compare flavored potato chips for gluten they also compare by other variables 16.4% of the time (multi-variable comparison rate) – which is really quite low when you look at the multi-variable comparison rates for MSG (23.7%) or Soy (71.3%).  This probably indicates that those comparing Gluten are generally mainly concerned with that allergen and that it is their primary ¨choice factor¨.

Interestingly the most popular, and most significant, other variable when gluten is used to compare flavored potato chips are Cereals (17.8%).  Again, this indicates that those comparing flavored chips for Gluten may often also have cereal allergies.  In fact, with the exception of Calories, all the other second tier comparisons when gluten has been compared relate to other allergens.

Second Tier Choices – when compared by MSG:

MSG, the second most popularly compared variable in flavored potato chips had a multi-variable comparison rate of 23.7% of the time.   That is to say, 23.7% of the time that MSG was compared another variable was also compared.  The table below outlines these other comparisons.

Second Tier Comparisons following MSG – Flavored Potato Chips
Rank	Comparison	Num Comp.	%
1	Gluten	162	37.0%
2	Calories	50	11.4%
3	Artificial Color Yellow 6	27	6.2%
4	Aspartame	25	5.7%
5	Preservatives	23	5.3%

Clearly, the most compared other variable when MSG was compared in flavored potato chips was Gluten (37%) followed again by Calories (11.4%).  However, in contrast to when Gluten is compared the second tier comparisons for MSG such as artificial colors (6.2%), aspartame (5.7%), and preservatives (5.3%), reflect the fact that people comparing for MSG are generally more concerned about the additves and ingredients in the product.

The Data:

Behavior data was captured during a survey of over 30,000 people actively using FoodEssentials.com over the last 6 months.  The full report, and custom reports are available through FoodEssentials Corporation – contact us for more information.

FoodEssentials LabelBase database is available for access upon subscription -  contact us for more information on LabelBase licenses.

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