I wonder if the inventor of the tortilla chip sued? Or is that a generic food item that no one can claim ownership? A lot of Latin American families make their own tortilla chips and tamales from masa.
Cheetos are actually my favorite chip. Invented by the same guy that created Fritos. My wife buys Tostitos because they have less salt. Yet another Frito-Lay product.
I read on some food site BARBEQUE flavored chips, potato or corn, are tossed in big drums full of the barbeque seasoning, and that stuff attracts flies more than any other, and the drums have maggots in them. I have no source, no cite, just one of those ‘anonymous worker in the factory’ confessions.
Fritos seem spicier to me. I have to restrict how many that I eat. Or pay the price of bad, miserable indigestion for a couple days. I’ll make a Frito pie once or twice a month. I give the rest of the bag to one of my daughters. So I’m not tempted to snack on them.
I haven’t bought a bag of Doritos in ages. We buy the less salty, original Tostitos.
I’m amazed at how these stupid food rumors spread. Like Leaffan said, the inspectors likely would have picked up on it, even if they didn’t I’m sure they’re own inspectors would have. In most cases, factories, especially ones that use a HAACP plan, do internal inspections that far exceed anything the local guy does. Hell, even in my little store, we’re on top of things more then the local inspectors. There’s only so much they can do in a 10 minute, once a year walk around (not just food, but electrical and building as well). Frito-Lay, really doesn’t want flies going out with the product.
Similarly, I was once talking to a customer, taking an order over the phone and she asked what brand of water we used. I told her it was Nestle Pure Life. Her response was “I heard they use water for cooling the machines and I can taste chocolate in it, I’ll pick up my own drinks”. After I unrolled my eyes, I explained to her that I’m sure they do use water for cooling the machines, but it would be put right back into the drain as ‘grey water’, not reused. Even if it was reused, it wouldn’t taste like chocolate since it wouldn’t make contact with the chocolate since it would just be used to cool pumps/motors/molds/etc and besides, water ruins chocolate if it comes in contact with it (it causes it to seize). She wasn’t having it, that’s what she heard, and now she can taste it.
Oh well, means my employee doesn’t have to lug 30 bottles of water/soda up 3 flights of stairs.
But seriously, I hear all kinds of weird stuff about food, some of which may be true, a lot of which probably isn’t.
BTW, your favorite restaurant, while probably clean, sanitary and safe to eat at, probably has a filthy (looking) kitchen, trust me, I’ve seen it, you don’t want to watch your food being made or see how it’s stored.
It’s disturbing that you know this. Then I would have to go with the oil they’re using, combined with whatever sort of corn it is. Frito-Lay tends to heavily salt their products, as well.
A friend of mine managed a Frito plant and we got to tour it. It was cleaner than most personal kitchens and ALL of the commercial kitchens that I have ever been in. Hair nets and gloves were required on everyone, even us, and we didn’t touch anything.
Most big factories are like that. Watch any of the Food Network shows that take you inside plants that make nationally distributed foods and you’ll see exceptionally clean equipment and hair/beard nets on everyone. You can be sure even the camera/crew members are wearing them as well. And all that cleanliness isn’t an accident. One of the shows I was watching, on Jenny-O maybe, showed them shutting down the plant every single night to scrub and sanitize all the equipment, Walter White style.
A friend of mine distributes produce, as he moved from just being a local distributor to selling to people like Reinhart and Sysco he had to get more certifications. Some of these required him to keep his plants incredibly clean, hairnets for everyone, logging who came in and out, visitor badges etc. Again, this goes above and beyond the local health inspector taking a 10 minute walkaround. He has to deal with the Sysco/Reinhart people taking a much closer look or whoever gives him the certifications inspecting his plant.
Some of these big places won’t even let us inside, it’s just easier. We have a pickup, we let them know we’re there and they bring the stuff to the dock.
When you’re not in the food industry you don’t see a lot of what goes on in the background. There’s a reason you don’t find a random hair in your Cheetos and when there’s a (rare) Salmonella outbreak they can track it back to it’s source somewhat quickly.
Invented by the same guy that created Fritos. My wife buys Tostitos because they have less salt. Yet another Frito-Lay product.