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Sunbites Snack Crackers Cheddar and Chives | Chewsday Review

Today's Chewsday Review is another savoury snack option. With so many out there, it’s hard to know which to choose. So let’s see how these Sunbites Snack Crackers compare…

Ingredients

Wholegrain Cereals (70%) (Corn, Wheat, Oats), Sunflower Oil, Quinoa (3%), Sugar, Whey Powder (Milk), Rice, Cheese Powder (Milk), Salt, Natural Flavours (Milk), Maltodextrin, Onion Powder, Yeast Extract, Herbs (Chives, Parsley), Natural Colour (Paprika Extract).
These used to contain vegetable oil, but this has been swapped out for sunflower oil which is generally a better quality oil.
Allergens: wheat (gluten), milk and soy.
These no longer list soy as an ingredient, but when my team reached out to Sunbites to ask why soy was listed as an allergen, they said the product is made on the same line/facility as other products that do contain soy, so it is included due to the risk of cross-contamination. This is interesting as generally food companies will use a voluntary “may contain traces” statement to identify risks of cross-contamination.

Positives

These crackers are a source of fibre with one serve (24g) providing almost 10% of a young child’s daily fibre requirements. This is thanks to the wholegrain corn, wheat and oats.
Sodium (salt) content is only 305mg per 100g, which is much lower than most savoury snacks, including Bluey Cheese Crackers (447mg per 100g) and Messy Monkeys Cheese Wholegrain Bites (435mg per 100g). It’s worth noting that the other flavours of Sunbites Snack Crackers are higher in sodium.
These do contain some added sugar, but they are well within recommendations (less than 15g per 100g) at 5.3g per 100g.
Saturated fat is within recommendations at only 2.1g per 100g.
You can also purchase these in individual packets which is convenient, but buying a box is better for the environment with less soft plastic going into landfill.

Negatives

Total fat content is 22.5g per 100g is above recommendations (less than 10g per 100g), but I’m not overly concerned as the saturated fat is within recommendations.
A box is $3.30 or $30 per kg, so rice cakes, corn things and rice crackers are all cheaper alternatives. Bluey Cheese Crackers are similarly priced at $27 a kg, but individual packets of Messy Monkeys are a whopping $50 per kg.

Marketing

“With quinoa”. This is really quite hilarious, because a single serve contains only 0.7g of quinoa. Surely that’s not actually worth adding.
“Made with real ingredients”. *Rolls eyes*
“Natural colours and flavours”. True, but it’s a fairly meaningless claim.
“More than 65% Wholegrain”. It’s interesting that they haven’t just said “70% Wholegrain” but the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating recommends at least two thirds of grain foods eaten be wholegrains, so I presume they’re trying to align their marketing with this recommendation.

Alternatives