Today, we’re excited to introduce a new member of the Snack Chat blogging team, Katherine Francis! Katherine is a registered dietitian who works in our Research & Development organization here at Frito-Lay headquarters. She’ll be blogging on Snack Chat about the work she and her team are doing to advocate sensible snacking and nutrition from product development to consumer enjoyment. Welcome, Katherine! - Kristin
The Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo (FNCE) is the Super Bowl of nutrition conferences. As a registered dietitian (RD), I have the privilege this week of joining thousands of RDs from all over the country in sunny San Diego to participate in the annual event, which kicks off today! The conference boasts presentations and discussions of current research topics, networking with colleagues, and an enormous exhibit hall where attendees have the chance to talk with industry representatives, sample new products, pick up new educational materials and participate in drawings.
A lot of activity surrounds the Frito-Lay booth this year. The dietitians who visit it will be able to sample new products, including Lay’s Garden Tomato Basil Potato Chips and SunChips Jalapeño Jack Multigrain Snacks – both made with all natural ingredients. My fellow attendees will also be able to sample products to which we have made positive nutrition changes, such as Lay’s BBQ Potato Chips - a great example of how we are reducing sodium by nearly 25% on average across our flavored potato chip lines.
To share a ‘sneak peek’ behind the scenes at Frito-Lay, we often take RDs into our plants to illustrate how our chips are made with simple ingredients by simple processes. This year, we have brought the plant tour to FNCE! By sharing step-by-step information about how we make our snacks, dietitians will understand, how we start with whole corn kernels and end up with Tostitos Tortilla Chips -- and how potatoes become potato chips in less than 15 minutes. In addition to those great activities, we have a surprise for those who want to test their chip knowledge: A ‘Chip Challenge’ they can enter at the booth or on Twitter -- and one lucky participant will win a relaxing day at the spa to relieve that post-FNCE stress!
FNCE is always a very fun weekend for me -- I love running into college peers and professors, as well as networking with other dietitians and having the opportunity to share what we are doing here at Frito-Lay to improve the nutritional quality of America’s favorite snack chips through innovation.
If you’re at FNCE this week, stop by our booth, say hello and take our Chip Challenge! See you there.
- Katherine
What happened to the "Roasted Red Pepper" Tostino's? WHat would it take to get those back?
Love your products,
Preston Gunderson
Posted by: Preston Gunderson | September 25, 2011 at 10:22 PM