Animal or vegetable? Which oven chips and wedges make the nutritional grade, while others are laden with artery-clogging saturated beef fat?(Test: hot potato snacks)(Buyers Guide)

Publication: Choice (Chippendale, Australia)

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COPYRIGHT 2003 Australian Consumers' Association

IN A NUTSHELL

* The majority of frozen chips, wedges and potato shapes are cooked in beef fat, rather than more heart-friendly oils like canola.

* If the kids clamour for more or you're watching your weight, it's possible to buy healthier chips or wedges--see the table, page 11.

When you go shopping for oven-bake potato chips or wedges, you might think you're buying the kids some vegies they'll actually eat, but most contain a hefty whack of saturated beef fat--not exactly what you might have been expecting in the frozen veg aisle.

In fact, of the 65 varieties of oven-bake potato chips and snacks we checked out, 39 surprised us by being cooked in beef fat. And even the others that seemed better on the face of it weren't all cooked in something poly- or monounsaturated: four used palm oil, which is a saturated fat, and the labels of two others would only fess up to 'vegetable oil', which could mean anything.

THE GOOD NEWS

It's not all gloom and doom, though. If you choose carefully (see the table, page 11) you can find chips and wedges that are pretty low in fat--as low as 3%, which probably beats your home-made mash with milk and butter--and which won't blow out your salt intake for the day either.

THE BAD NEWS

If you're a hash brown addict, the bad news is that you'll be eating lots of saturated fat and going on a salt spree. Products like hash browns, gems, jewels and novelty potato products can challenge the most nutritionally savvy person when it comes to crafting a nutritional balance around them.

Sure, there's no problem in having such things occasionally, but a regular substitute for real vegies they're not.

THE BOTTOM LINE?

Look for the lowest-fat oven fries and wedges and you won't need to worry much about the kids...

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