The Chip Group
The Chip Group was formed to make New Zealand's favourite snack healthier and tastier.
With fears about New Zealanders' growing waistlines, the spotlight was going on high-fat foods such as deep-fried hot chips. Seven million servings of hot chips are eaten every week in New Zealand, so French fries are a significant local market for our growers. To preserve that market, and preserve New Zealanders' ability to eat their delicious chips, Potatoes New Zealand led the formation of The Chip Group with the aim of cutting the fat content of hot chips by 20% and reducing the added salt.
The Chip Group is a partnership made up of 18 organisations from the food service industry (potato growers - represented by Potatoes New Zealand, chip manufacturers, equipment suppliers and oil makers) and health and government organisations (The Heart Foundation, the Ministry of Health and the New Zealand Food Safety Authority). It is dedicated to making hot chips healthier and tastier by improving their nutritional status and lowering their fat and salt content. As part of that the Group provides training to chip shop workers to help them learn how to fry healthier (for example, having the fat at the right temperature - 175ºC - means the chips absorb less fat).
The Chip Group is also focused on creating some consistency across chip shops by implementing industry standards, as well as sponsoring the annual 'Best Chip Shop Competition'. For more information about The Chip Group, click here.
Ultimately, The Chip Group is focused on creating better chips. After all, if chips are healthier AND tastier, New Zealanders will eat even more of them!
