Responding to increasing pressure from health-conscious Indians, Pepsico India?s Frito-Lay division is changing the ingredients it uses in popular salted snack foods like Frito-Lay chips, Cheetos and Kurkure, introducing whole-grain and colon-healthy fibre wherever possible.
The company has already eliminated the use of around 5,000 tonne of saturated fats a year by switching to rice-bran oil earlier this year. Now, it is looking at using whole-grain, which is good for the heart.
?We are working on products in that direction,? said TSR Murali, technology director of Pepsico India. ?We have brought down sat fats (saturated fat) by 40%. Roughly about 5,000 tonne of sat fats have been removed from the product,? he said.
Sources said Frito-Lay is also looking into adding colon-healthy fibre and lycopene, an antioxidant present in tomatoes and watermelon.
Frito-Lay has dominated the Rs 2,000-crore domestic salty-snacks market for the last one-and-a-half decade, and has shifted from using vegetable oil early this year, stepping ahead of its new competitor, Bingo from ITC Ltd.
Murali said, ?We have always been zero trans fat, never used vanaspati. Now, healthier oil is in the offing.? Higher trans fat content is associated with higher LDL or the ?bad? cholesterol and lower HDL or the ?good? cholesterol.
The company has also removed mono sodium glutamate (MSG) from its products. MSG, a sodium salt of glutamic acid, enhances aroma and flavour of products but is believed to be responsible for headaches and nausea.
But, while the company has changed to sunflower oil in the US it has shifted to rice bran oil in India. ?Rice bran oil is more relevant to indian customers. Sunflower oil is high in PUFA (poly unsaturated fatty acids),? he said.