Flamin' Hot Funyuns

     One of my favorite things to snack on are these chips called Flamin' Hot Funyuns. They are these crispy, oniony flavored chips covered with a spicy powder that makes your jaw quiver and eyes slightly water. I don't have them too often but when I do, I really enjoy them; so I decided to do some research on the product.

     They are distributed by Frito Lay, a wholly owned subsidiary of PepsiCo Inc. So just from looking at the non-recyclable plastic bag they come packaged in, I counted about 30 ingredients that make up these chips. The first and main ingredient is enriched corn meal, which is pretty much corn ground into a fine powder with added vitamins like Riboflavin and Niacin. Funyuns are for the most part made up of simple ingredients like: Butter and skim milks, sugar, salt, onion and garlic powders, cheese. But they also contain a flavor enhancing ingredient called Monosodium Glutamate or MSG; there has been controversy over whether or not this ingredient is linked to food illnesses and many studies have been conducted, but none have found a correlation.

     I did some research on the Frito Lay website, and found out that most of the corn used in their products distributed west of the Mississippi River comes from Gothenburg, Nebraska. This location supplies about 12 million bushels of corn, is responsible for about 13,000 semi trucks, and utilizes 125 growers almost all from central Nebraska. Frito Lay has asked its suppliers to refrain from the use of genetically modified organisms (GMO's) in their crops but have not refused to buy them. Therefore they have promised to strictly abide by the rules, regulations and proper labeling practices of each country their products are sold in.

     Through the works of their "Green Teams", Frito Lay has implemented many sustainability practices: by using solar energy and biofuel, they have reduced the electricity used to make each bag by 22%, enough to power 15,000 homes for a year. Technological advances have enabled them to make less water work harder, thus reducing their water consumption by 40% for each bag, saving 1.5 billion gallons since 1999. In 2006 and 2007 unspecified changes to their fleet and facilities reduced their CO2 emissions by 96 million pounds; most likely the use of clean burning fuels in their trucks.
http://www.fritolay.com/our-planet.html