Buyer's guide to crisps

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The Pipers, Tra'fo Organic and Yorkshire Crisps brands come out best. These are followed by the widely available Seabrook brand.

Brand	Rating
Pipers crisps [A]	14.5
Seabrook crisps [A]	14
Tra'fo organic crisps [O]	14
Yorkshire crisps	14
Real Crisps (Ready Salted) [A]	12.5
Real Crisps (vegetarian) [A]	12.5
Tyrells vegan crisps [A]	12.5
Tyrells vegetarian crisps [A]	12.5
Burts crisps	12
Jonathan Crisp vegetarian crisps [A]	12
Real Crisps	12
Tyrells crisps	12
Jonathan Crisp vegan crisps [A]	11.5
Golden Wonder crisps	11
Kettle Organic Chips [O,A]	10.5
Kettle Chips (vegan) [A]	9.5
Kettle Chips (vegetarian) [A]	9.5
Kettle Chips	8.5
KP vegan crisps [A]	4.5
KP vegetarian crisps [A]	4.5
McCoys vegan crisps [A]	4.5
McCoys vegetarian crisps [A]	4.5
KP crisps	4
McCoys crisps	4
Doritos	1.5
Walkers crisps	1.5
Pringles crisps	0

The ratings on this scorecard were last updated from our database at www.ethiscore.org on 22 May 2008. The higher the rating, the more ethical the brand.

Crisps-mini report

The UK crisps market is mainly divided into large companies, often with poor ethical records and low Ethiscores, and small independent producers making 'gourmet' crisps. Unfortunately, although many of these smaller brands show some awareness of currently high-profile issues such as local sourcing, and sometimes issues such as vegetarianism and GM, engagement with wider impacts and transparency about environmental measures is poor. In particular, no company seemed to be seriously considering the issue of packaging. The best scoring brands come from local producers like Pipers and Yorkshire Crisps and organic company Faan Zuidhorn (Tra'fo brand).

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