Scientists have developed a healthy alternative to crisps, which promises to help junk-loving consumers hit their five-a-day fruit and veg target.
Researchers from Manchester Metropolitan University mixed fruit and vegetable leftovers with flour and passed them through a high-pressure machine to make them crisp.
The development opens a new avenue for food manufacturers who want to target parents looking to tempt their children with healthier snack, and the university has confirmed that an un-named corporation has already approached the university about the product.
In an initial survey of 150 consumers aged 13 to 50, just six said they wouldn't buy them if they saw them in the shops, and lead researcher, Dr Paul Ainsworth, expects the snacks to hit supermarket shelves within the year.
"Children weren't getting enough fruit and vegetables," he told the Manchester Evening News. "This way, they probably lose some of the nutrients and it can't be as good as the real fruits, but if we are looking at what children will eat, then this is good."
The new snacks contain more nutrients than many other fruit- or vegetable-based processed products because they use their skins and cores as well as the main flesh.
"These parts contain important healthy chemicals and so much flavour and colour," Dr Ainsworth added.
"You can lose 50 per cent of these products as waste and it just gets put into landfill, which is expensive and highly wasteful."
Isn't this indicative of our society?
Fruit and veg? Eeww! No thanks!
Junk food? Oh yes please! It's what? Fruit!? Ah well, it looks like junk. I'll eat it!
