Want advanced access to my weekly Chewsday Reviews?

Every Tuesday morning receive the latest Chewsday Review delivered directly to your inbox.

The Natural Chip Co Veggie Ring Cheese Snacks | Chewsday Review

Oh look, another snack food claiming to be a vegetable… And the company is called Natural Chip Co- these must be better right? What do you think? Spoiler alert- my hopes are not high. Today’s Chewsday Review features The Natural Chip Co Veggie Ring Cheese Snacks.

Ingredients

Cereals (Rice, Corn), Vegetable Oil, Vegetable Powders (10%) (Green Pea, Beetroot, Sweet Potato, Onion, Garlic), Whey Powder, Cheese Powders (from Milk), Salt, Yeast Extracts, Natural Flavours, Mineral Salt (Calcium Chloride), Food Acids (Lactic, Citric), Sugar, Natural Colours (Paprika Extract, Turmeric)
There are significantly less preservatives in this product compared to other savoury ‘veggie’ snacks like straws or pea crisps.
Common allergens include: milk. May contain soy.

Positives

Contains a tiny amount of fibre (I’m stretching the positive list here- it’s not really a reasonable amount). An 18g serving provides enough fibre to meet 3% of a toddler’s daily fibre requirements and 2% of a preschoolers daily fibre requirements. This is much less than an 18g serving of actual veggies!!
Sugar content is 7g/100g which is within guidelines but is much higher than most savoury snack foods.

Negatives

Saturated fat content exceeds healthy guidelines by three times. This is also three times more saturated fat than regular potato chips. This comes from the vegetable oil, which I suspect contains palm oil given the high saturated fat levels.
Total fat is more than double the recommended guidelines at 23.3g/100g. This is about two thirds of fat content of potato chips.
Sodium (salt) content significantly exceeds nutritional guidelines of less than 420mg/100g at 568mg. This is also a bit more than the sodium content of Red Rock and Smith’s potato chips.
These are more expensive than potato chips at about $37 per kilo.

Marketing

“100% natural and gluten free – the ideal lunchbox treat.” Ummmm… these are chips. They may not contain gluten, but that does not make them a healthy lunchbox choice. Gluten is only a problem for people with coeliac disease.
‘Baked not fried’ Except they’re baked in a tray of cheap oil with a heap of saturated fat.
“They are made with all natural ingredients including corn, rice, sweet potato, pea + beetroot and seasoned with delicious kid friendly flavours”. With a lot of cheap oil. That last sentence was my own…

Alternatives

These Veggie Rings are nutritionally similar to regular potato chips. They’ve got a bit less total fat, but more saturated fat, more salt and a token sprinkling of vegetable powder. And they’re definitely not a source of veggies. So, don’t be fooled into thinking you’re having a healthier chip, because you’re most definitely not!
If your child like these chips, know that they’re not a magical food and just don’t offer them every day. If you want an everyday snack, I’d suggest the low salt rice crackers, or rice/corn cakes instead.