Why are some bags of chips puffed up and others not? I originally though it was some packaging irregularity, but one of my friends told me that the puffy ones were contaminated by micro-organisms. He told me they were digesting the chips and producing CO2 which caused the bag to puff up.
Anyone know if this is true or not?
I don’t know where you’re from, but I live just over a mile above sea level. I always figured the puffy bags were because the bags were sealed down in the low country, and then shipped up to us. The air expands, meaning you get puffy bags.
Same thing with happens when you bring your shampoo bottle on the plane. The altitude makes it blow up.
Loveland, CO the elevation is about 4800ft.I thought it was packing elevation myself, altough that really wouldn’t explain why some bags were much puffier than others.
The I moved to Santa cruz which is on the pacific coast, and we got them there too.
I live at sea level and we have puffy bags. I’ve always thought that the air was put in there to protect the chips from getting crushed. Perhaps the manufacturers use an inert, serile gas to prevent them from getting stale.
I think PapaBear is right. It is probably the case that all bags are supposed to be puffy (to protect the chips and to give the illusion of having more than 3 chips in a bag), but some have very slow leaks in them, thus causing them to be less puffy.
I’ve known people who worked on the assembly lines of snack food manufacturers and I’m told there are blowers that put air in the bags immediately before they’re sealed. I would think they do it to provide some sort of buffer against The Chip Confetti Principle but it is a major pain to pay $2 for a bag of chips that’s really only half full. Which is why I usually buy Fritos.
Cave Diem! Carpe Canem!
Don’t like puffy bags? Eat Pringles. UGH.
Peace,
mangeorge
So what precisely is The Confetti Chip Principle? Sounds quite intriguing.
Oops The Chip Confetti Principle
You don’t wanta know ,Omni it was a crumby book. I designed “FLEXIBLE PACKAGING” (tater chip bags) for several years,Papa,stevo,and olentz got it right the air is puffed in there.Stevos leak theory holds water too. And athena is right about elevation. We once made an all day and night run from the gulf coast to Trinidad colorado.Pic a nic basket was full of chips and torn bags and a few BIG pillows. Wife said,“oh i wondered what that noise was”
falcon2, the average american eats 2lbs of critter parts each year.
They stuff the bags with air, so it looks like you are getting more. Same with cereals.
This isn’t quite on topic…
But in a book entitled " The Fortean Book Of Exploding Pigs", a collection of weird news stories abou animals, they cite a case in England in which a barmaid opened up a bag of potato chips [called ‘crisps’ over there] and found a live hedgehog in the bag, eating the chips. Why not? Mice in beer bottles & all.
Ok, well since this thread came back, I’ll clarify some more, I am talking about fully-inflated-to-the-bursting-point bags. They are not that common, but when you get them, you’ll know.
I ate more than that this weekend.
Come on. They are sold by weight, and high volume cost more to ship, and cereal companies dont need to puff up their bags to screw you out of a dime, they’ll just jack up the price again.