Snacks on the market

Snacks on the market

From Neraca

Snacks attractively packaged in aluminum foil nowadays occupy much space on supermarket shelves. The snacks -- many registered with the Health Department -- show no expiry date and are sold in the price range of Rp 100 to Rp 500.

With their colorful packaging, the snacks attract children, who like them not for their nutritional value but for their wrapping and the toy enclosed as a gift. Advertisements have also influenced them.

I have often wondered which is actually being sold: the snack or the wrapping. If it is the snack, why is there so little of it? I am convinced that the snack has a very small nutrient content and that the wrapping is far more expensive than its contents. In short, most snack producers are not interested in enhancing the nutrition levels of children. How is it possible when it is the wrapper being sold?

MRS. SOESILOWATI

Jakarta