I worked in a chip factory for a year and there is several reasons for this. Firstly it is to help prevent the chips from being crushed. Second it is actually nitrogen that they fill the bags with which helps prevent the chips from going stale. When the chips are bagged at the factory it is completely full, often problems arise that the bags are to full. Unfortunately the chips do get crushed and make the bag seem half empty.
Excluding Pringles, it looks like there's a relationship between the thickness of the individual chip and the amount of air in the bag. Individual Fritos, Tostito's Scoops, and baked chips in general tend to be thicker, while regular chips are a bit thinner. That goes nicely with the idea that the air is to prevent crushing: chips that are less prone to being crushed need less air to protect them.
Cheetos' placement surprises me, though. I wonder if that's more because the shape of Cheetos makes it harder to pack them in a bag.
![image showing [OC] Percent of Air Per Bag of Chips](1a83ea67-2238-5b72-98ee-4635b39bbd75.jpg)
swordfish1221 on July 6th, 2018 at 18:49 UTC »
I worked in a chip factory for a year and there is several reasons for this. Firstly it is to help prevent the chips from being crushed. Second it is actually nitrogen that they fill the bags with which helps prevent the chips from going stale. When the chips are bagged at the factory it is completely full, often problems arise that the bags are to full. Unfortunately the chips do get crushed and make the bag seem half empty.
Syllellipsis on July 6th, 2018 at 18:55 UTC »
Excluding Pringles, it looks like there's a relationship between the thickness of the individual chip and the amount of air in the bag. Individual Fritos, Tostito's Scoops, and baked chips in general tend to be thicker, while regular chips are a bit thinner. That goes nicely with the idea that the air is to prevent crushing: chips that are less prone to being crushed need less air to protect them.
Cheetos' placement surprises me, though. I wonder if that's more because the shape of Cheetos makes it harder to pack them in a bag.
reubensauce on July 6th, 2018 at 21:26 UTC »
I never understood why people get so upset about this.
If it were 100% air, it would float away. There has to be some debris in the bag to weigh it down.