MANSFIELD — Jones Potato Chip company is changing the oil it uses to cook their traditional potato chips, following a U.S. Food and Drug Administration mandate.
That means the wavy chips will no longer be produced, approximately by the end of the year, the company stated on its Facebook page Tuesday.
In 2013, the FDA made a preliminary decision partially-hydrogenated oils were no longer “generally recognized as safe,” according to the FDA’s website.
“FDA is finalizing that action and determining that PHOs are not GRAS for any use in human food,” the company’s website states.
The local potato chip company is saddened by the mandate but realizes it will have to comply, said company spokesman Darryl Jones.
“We just have to react to what the law says,” Jones said.
The partially-hydrogenated soybean oil Jones uses will now be substituted by corn oil.
“The popular choices are corn, sunflower, and cotton feed oil,” Jones said. “They all have a similar taste, but they will taste different than the partially-hydrogenated soy bean oil.”
Jones said the company has come as close as it can to find an oil that could match the traditional chip’s flavor. Jones Potato Chip is thinking of the new chips more as a new line of products than a recreation of an old stand-by.
“We don’t really know (how customers will react),” Jones said. “Some view us as a local company who makes good chips. Some people on Facebook say they are unhappy about it.
“It wasn’t our idea,” he added, saying every potato chip manufacturer will make a switch away from partially-hydrogenated oils.
Several years ago, The Jones brothers began a new line of chips made in FDA approved corn oil. The company makes a “private label” chip with avocado oil, he said.
Still, Jones said there is enough partially-hydrogenated soybean oil to last until the end of the calendar year. After that, producers will no longer be able to produce it.
Nationally, the company is growing, Jones added. The corn oil chips are popular nationally, but local purchasers have complained to the company on social media.
“It’s might affect us locally. It’s not the same thing,” Jones said. “But we are going to comply.”
