Frito-Lay uses better-for-you oil

Frito-Lay, the snack division of PepsiCo, announced an industry-jarring, better-for-you oil change for its Lay s potato chips. Feeling heat from consumers, schools and health experts, the chip giant this week begins a national rollout of Lay s and Ruffles chips cooked in sunflower oil instead of cottonseed oil, to reduce saturated fat. By the end of 2006, the chips cooked in NuSun sunflower oil will be sold nationwide.


The change is certain to be felt across the $15 billion-plus U.S. snack market, with other makers expected to follow. It comes three years after Frito-Lay eliminated trans fats from its snacks.


"Moving in a healthier direction is good," says Jo Ann Hattner, a nutrition consultant in San Francisco. "But just because your chips got lower in saturated fat doesn t mean you can go out to eat fried chicken." Frito-Lay is taking a risk, however. The Lay s line of 13 types of potato chips is the world s best-selling snack food. Its sales of $2.5 billion last year were 25% of Frito-Lay s total. Messing with a popular brand s key ingredients — as Coke once unsuccessfully tried — is always risky, says Martin Lindstrom, an international brand consultant.